For over 50 years, starting in the 1920s, America has maintained a prison population of close to 220,000 people. Today the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. It has approximately 2.3 million people in its jails or prisons.

According to U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), one out of three African-Americans born in the year 2001 is likely to serve time in jail or prison during his/her lifetime. And half of all the people incarcerated are imprisoned for non-violent drug crimes. While African-American and Latino teens are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol than whites, they are three to four times more likely to be arrested, convicted, and sent to jail or prison for non-violent drug offenses.

As of 2017 the violent crime rate in America is the same as it was at the end of 1968. The U.S. prison system has nonetheless grown by over 500 percent. Therefore, if the crime rate does not go down, it may be easy to see why the United States locks up more people, per capita, than any other nation in the world.

More Info: www.prisonpolicy.org