Monday, March 02, 2009

Pew: One in 22 Texans under control of criminal justice system

The Pew Center on the States just came out with a new report analyzing national incarceration and community supervision statistics, along with an accompanying Texas state fact sheet (pdf).

Bottom line: One in 31 American adults nationally are in prison, jail, on probation or on parole. In Texas, though, the ratio is much higher - one out of 22 adults here are under control of the criminal justice system, Pew calculated.

Texas no longer boasts the nation's top incarceration rate, however. That dubious honor belongs to Georgia. One in 13 Georgians - an astonishing 7.92%, compared to 4.56% in Texas - are in prison, jail, on probation or on parole, says Pew.

Texas' percentage of its population under control of the corrections system ranks 4th nationally behind the Peach State, Idaho, and the District of Columbia, according to Pew.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don;t see how this is a surprise. We set our kids up for failure with the stupid parenting by police-officer garbage. Then add in the petty drug sentences, and the romeo and juliet LIFE TIME registry.. How again am I supposed to be surprised. Our wonderful Legislature and Governor have so entwined criminal charges with all but eating and sleeping, how can we NOT have so many on the books?

Anonymous said...

Thats funny because people over in Louisiana say they are #1 in the exact same Pew study. The linked article goes on to say what a great job Texas is doing...

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe the police would not have to parent if the actual parent was doing their job!!

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Refo, I was referring to the rate of people in prison, jail, on probation and parole, or the rate of people under the control of the justice system (see p. 45 of the report), and that's where Georgia is highest, we're 4th, and LA lower.

LA has the highest rate of actual prisoners per capita among states, topped only by D.C. Texas previously was higher than LA in that category, too, before Katrina, then their population loss made LA's ratio lower, plus Texas reduced its own rate of new prison entries in the last couple of years.

Anonymous said...

Discussing ratings seems like pointless hairsplitting. The POINT is ALL these rates are TOO HIGH. 1 in 33 people are in the "injustice" system nationally. SHAME ON US.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where one can find statistics on Registered Sex Offenders in the following categories: 1) in prison, 3) on probation of parole, 3) off paper.