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MSN reports 1 in 36 Americans in jail, probation, etc.
posted by Matt on 05:25 PM July 26th, 2004
The Media MSN reported (with characteristic lack of detail when it comes to these topics) that 1 in 36 Americans are in prison, on parole, or on probation.

Click 'Read more' for more commentary.


The actual report and supporting data charts can be downloaded here. I note in looking at this report that the authors broke down probation/parole statistics by gender, among other things; but they did not break down incarceration by gender. I find that interesting to say the least. If someone else finds this break-down, please post it. Even so, note the number of men v. women on parole as a percentage in 2003 for those persons on parole: 77% male to 23% female. If we (are forced to, essentially, for now) assume that the same ratio holds for incarceration, that would mean in 2003 of the 3.6% of Americans under penal supervision of some kind (including jail), 77% of that number of the locked up portion of adults is male. According to the report, the number of adults in jail or prison by e/o 2003 was 2,078,570 (on page 1 of the report, adding the jail and prison figures together). If the 77% figure holds true, this would mean 1,600,498 men are in jail in the U.S. (while only 478,072 women are in jail). Somehow though I don't think the 77/23 ratio holds; I imagine it is even greater for men than women, probably more like 85/15 or even 90/10.

Consider then that the US has a population of 138,053,563 men (see the census chart). Estimating therefore with a *conservative* figure of 1,600,498 men being in jail, this would mean 1.1% of the *male* population is in jail. But wait; we're including all males in this calculation at this point. Subtract males under 19 and over 59 and the number of males you have to work with is down to 77,262,100. OK, so now the %age of adult men under 59 in jail comes in at 2%. This means 2 in every 100 men (or every 1 in 50 if you prefer to think of it that way) in IN JAIL--not just on parole or "under supervision"-- IN JAIL. And this report indicates the trend of people in jail and "under supervision" is only going upward.

Read the report, by the way-- I think you will find the headings of certain areas quite telling. For example, one heading on page 4 reads "At year end 2003, 1 in 5 probationers were women; 1 in 3 were black". Well gee, this would mean 4 in 5 probationers are men and 2 in 3 were other-than-black (white, Asian, Latino, etc.) Given that these numbers are larger and have as much implication for society's well-being as anything else, why do you suppose they chose to call attention to statistical discrepancies this way? I'll leave it to you to figure out.

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Prisons: As American As Apple Pie (Score:2)
by Luek on 06:59 PM July 26th, 2004 EST (#1)
(User #358 Info)
It is some kind of weird contradiction that a nation that claims to be so enamored with and founded on principles of liberty and freedom has such a huge and growing percentage of its population either in prison or on restrictive probation.

But then if you don't like the way things are going in this country then you can use your precious franchise to vote things in for the better. However, wasn't it Joseph Stalin who said that elections are not decided by those who cast votes but by those who count them? I believe we are past the time when voting alone will change things. If voting could really change things it would probably be outlawed by the powers that be in some sneaky way especially in matters of family law. Best interests of the children and all that stuff you know.
1 in 18 adult men are in prison, on parole, . (Score:1)
by BreaK on 07:18 PM July 26th, 2004 EST (#2)
(User #1474 Info)
If arround of 90% of inmates are men, extrapolating that would be arround 1 in 18 male adults are in prison, on parole, or on probation.

Just Amazing!!

Yes indeed the land of the free, bla, bla ,bla, what a joke.
Re:1 in 18 adult men are in prison, on parole, . (Score:0)
by Anonymous User on 08:21 PM July 26th, 2004 EST (#3)
I just saw the figure for men recently somewhere. I think it was 93% males.
Re:1 in 18 adult men are in prison, on parole, . (Score:1)
by Konovan on 12:42 PM July 27th, 2004 EST (#5)
(User #1754 Info)
Yeah, the parole ratio of men vs. women may be wrong since women may be more likely to receive parole.

As a result, the incarceration percentage is probably higher for men. It could well be 90%.
Easiest Way to get the Word Out. (Score:0)
by Anonymous User on 12:14 PM July 27th, 2004 EST (#4)
Edit and correct this article to include missing viewpoints. It has a wide audience and will be perminant testimate to what this site, and others like it, are about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_rights
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