Police still make over 1 million drug possession arrests each year, 5 and many of these arrests do lead to prison sentences. Drug offenses still account for the incarceration of almost half a million people, 4 and nonviolent drug convictions remain a defining feature of the federal prison system. It’s true that police, prosecutors, and judges continue to punish people harshly for nothing more than drug possession. The first myth: Releasing “nonviolent drug offenders” would end mass incarceration Focusing on the policy changes that can end mass incarceration, and not just put a dent in it, requires the public to put these issues into perspective. Finally, simplistic solutions to reducing incarceration, such as moving people from jails and prisons to community supervision, ignore the fact that “alternatives” to incarceration often lead to incarceration anyway. Likewise, emotional responses to sexual and violent offenses often derail important conversations about the social, economic, and moral costs of incarceration and lifelong punishment. But they do not answer the question of why most people are incarcerated, or how we can dramatically - and safely - reduce our use of confinement. The overcriminalization of drug use, the use of private prisons, and low-paid or unpaid prison labor are among the most contentious issues in criminal justice today because they inspire moral outrage. Most have a kernel of truth, but these myths distract us from focusing on the most important drivers of incarceration. With a sense of the big picture, the next question is: why are so many people locked up? How many are incarcerated for drug offenses? Are the profit motives of private companies driving incarceration? Or is it really about public safety and keeping dangerous people off the streets? There are a plethora of modern myths about incarceration. Swipe for more detail on pre-trial detention. Only a small number (less than 150,000 on any given day) have been convicted, and are generally serving misdemeanors sentences under a year. 3 Some have just been arrested and will make bail within hours or days, while many others are too poor to make bail and remain behind bars until their trial. 2 Jail churn is particularly high because most people in jails have not been convicted. Every year, over 600,000 people enter prison gates, but people go to jail 10.6 million times each year. While this pie chart provides a comprehensive snapshot of our correctional system, the graphic does not capture the enormous churn in and out of our correctional facilities, nor the far larger universe of people whose lives are affected by the criminal justice system. In particular, local jails often receive short shrift in larger discussions about criminal justice, but they play a critical role as “ incarceration’s front door” and have a far greater impact than the daily population suggests. The detailed views bring these overlooked systems to light, from immigration detention to civil commitment and youth confinement. This big-picture view allows us to focus on the most important drivers of mass incarceration and identify important, but often ignored, systems of confinement. 1 This report provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration. The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. This report offers some much needed clarity by piecing together this country’s disparate systems of confinement. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build, however, it’s more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture. The various government agencies involved in the justice system collect a lot of critical data, but it is not designed to help policymakers or the public understand what’s going on. Can it really be true that most people in jail are being held before trial? And how much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs? These questions are harder to answer than you might think, because our country’s systems of confinement are so fragmented.
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