This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
The statistics are compiled from The Real War on Crime: The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission, edited by Stephen R. Donziger (HarperCollins, 1996). MIM does not agree with the liberal politics behind the book, but we do appreciate the collection of relevant facts.
Violent Crime
Homicide rate per 100,000 population, 1973: 9.4
Increase in prison population, 1980-1994: 1,000,000
Homicide rate per 100,000 population, 1993: 9.3
Percent change in homicide rate for men aged 15-19, 1985-1991: +154
Percent change in the number of inmates, 1980-1991: +150
Percent change in serious violent crime rate, 1980-1991: -4
Proportion of arrests that are for violent offenses: 1/7
Proportion of arrests that are for drug offenses: 1/12
Proportion of arrests that are for a violent crime resulting in injury: 1/33
Proportion of violent crime victims who go to an emergency room for their injury: 1/12
Proportion of murder victims killed by a family member or someone they knew: 8/10
Percent of murders where the killer was a "stranger" to the victim, 1976: 13.8
Percent of murders where the killer was a "stranger" to the victim, 1993: 14.0
Percent of the increase in prison population accounted for by nonviolent offenders, 1980-1993: 84
Percent of federal prisoner population incarcerated for nonviolent crimes: 89
Percent of new admissions to federal prisons that are for nonviolent crimes: 94
Percent of Texas prison admissions for nonviolent offenses: 77
Percent of murder, rape, robbery and assault known to police committed by people on parole or probation: 4
Percent of U.S. public who say they feel unsafe walking in their own area after dark: 41
Risk of serious violent crime for a white woman aged 65 or older compared to a Black male teenager: 1:65
Drugs
Blacks as percent of population: 12
Blacks as percent of all monthly drug users: 13
Blacks as percent of drug possession convictions: 55
Blacks as percent of drug possession prison sentences: 74
Percent change in Black arrests for drug offenses, 1985-1989: +115
Percent change in white arrests for drug offenses, 1985-1989: +27
Percent of state prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1979: 6
Percent of state prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1991: 21
Percent of Federal prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1979: 25
Percent of Federal prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1991: 58
Amount of marijuana needed to trigger a federal 5-year mandatory minimum sentence: 100 kilos
Amount of powder cocaine needed to trigger a federal 5-year mandatory minimum sentence: 500 grams
Amount of crack cocaine needed to trigger a federal 5-year mandatory minimum sentence: 5 grams
Blacks as percent of those arrested on crack charges: about 90
Whites as percent of those arrested on powder cocaine charges: 75
Percent of new prison admissions for drug offenses that are Black or Hispanic: 90
Blacks as percent of Columbus, OH population: 8
Blacks as percent of Columbus, OH drug arrests: 90
Blacks as percent of those Baltimore arrests for "drug abuse violations" (1991): 85.7
Blacks as percent of Baltimore city population (1990): 59.2
Prisoners
Total number of prison and jail inmates, 1994: 1,549,584
Percent change in prison and jail population, 1980-1994: 212.7
Number of people of probation or parole, 1993: 2,600,000
U.S. Black incarceration rate per 100,000 population, 1992-1993: 1,947
U.S. white incarceration rate per 100,000 population, 1992-1993: 306
Japanese rate of incarceration per 100,000 population, 1992-1993: 36
Hispanic incarceration rate per 100,000 population in 1980: 163
Hispanic incarceration rate per 100,000 population in 1993: 529
Proportion of Alaskan prison population that is "native": 1/3
Proportion of Alaskan population that is "native": 1/6
Estimated lifetime risk of arrest for urban Black men, in percent: 80
Blacks as percent of Illinois population: 15
Blacks as percent of Illinois state prisoners: 63
Percent of Baltimore Black men age 18-35 under criminal justice supervision (1992): 56
Percent of Washington, D.C. Black men age 18-35 under criminal justice supervision (1992): 42
Number of Black men who would be in prison in 2020 if present annual rates of increase continue: 4,500,000
Percent of adult population under some form of correctional supervision: 2.7
Number of people per year admitted to "locked facilities": 11,000,000
Number of days it takes to lock up enough people to fill the New Orlean Superdome: 2
Proportion of Black men aged 18-34 admitted to prison or jail per year (1994 est.): 1/3
Proportion of Black men aged 18-34 incarcerated on any one day (1994 est.): 1/10
Proportion of all men with a criminal record on file (est.): 1/4
Number of new prisons built in the U.S. since 1980: 600+
Number of prisoners with tuberculosis, 1992: 48,000
Estimated ratio of AIDS infection rate in prisons to rate in outside population: 14:1
Number of Mississippi prisoners who had individual air conditioners when the state passed a law banning individual air conditioners for prisoners: 0
Pigs, Judges, etc.
Chance of receiving death sentences for people convicted of killing whites compared to people convicted of killing Blacks: 11:1
Ratio of Black to white "unfounded" arrest rates in Oakland, CA: 12:1
Ratio of Black or Hispanic to white average bail for the same charge in Connecticut: 2:1
Chance of being kept in jail instead of released after "public order" charges for young unemployed Black men versus young unemployed white men (in Florida): 3:1
Latinos as proportion of those under probation in Florida: 1/2
Latinos as proportion of Florida population: 1/8
Number of Florida probationers allowed to vote: 0
Proportion of Blacks who told one large poll that police treat Blacks less fairly than whites: 3/4
Number of U.S. citizens who have lost their voting privileges because of convictions: 4,000,000
Number of Washington D.C. corrections staff convicted of serious crimes, 1989-1994: 50
Amount New York City spent on police brutality lawsuits and settlements in five years: $87,000,000
Proportion of law enforcement officers killed in 1993, compared to 1973: 1/2
Weekly earnings of drug-dealing New York City pig known to snort cocaine off his dashboard: $8,000
1990 U.S. police budgets: $32,000,000,000
Ratio of U.S. Department of Justice budget in 1992, compared to 1980: 4:1
Percent change in the number of Federal prosecutors, 1980-1992: +140
Percent change in combined budgets for all prosecutors, 1979-1990: +230
Percent change in the number of crime stories on major network TV news shows, 1991-1993: +186
WOMEN
Number of women's prisons built in the 1960s: 7
Number of women's prisons built in the 1980s: 34
Number of women in prison, 1980: 12,331
Number of women in prison, 1994: 64,403
Proportion of Black women aged 18-29 under criminal justice control (1989): 1/37
Proportion of Latino women aged 18-29 under criminal justice control (1989): 1/56
Proportion of white women aged 18-29 under criminal justice control (1989): 1/100
Percent change in number of women arrested, 1984-1993: 37
Percent change in number of women in prison, 1984-1993: 181
Percent of California women admitted to prison for violent crime convictions, 1982: 32.7
Percent of California women admitted to prison for violent crime convictions, 1992: 16
Proportion of women in prison for drug offenses, 1979: 1/10
Proportion of women in prison for drug offenses, 1986: 1/8
Proportion of women in prison for drug offenses, 1991: 1/3
Percent of women in prison who have children: 78
Percent of women state prisoners who receive visits from minor children: 9
Youth
Percent of juvenile prison population incarcerated for nonviolent crimes: 85
Ratio of Black to white juveniles arrested for drug sales in Baltimore, 1981: 6:1
Ratio of Black to white juveniles arrested for drug sales in Baltimore, 1991: 100:1
Change in percent of white juveniles placed in detention centers, 1984-1988: -2
Change in percent of Black juveniles placed in detention centers, 1984-1988: +269
Percent of the 65,000 incarcerated juveniles who commit "suicidal acts" each year: 17
Homicide rate among Black youths, per 100,000: 34.9
Homicide rate among white youths, per 100,000: 4.4
Percent of juvenile arrests that are for violent crimes: 6
Percent of juvenile arrests that are for "forcible rape" or murder: 0.4
Percent of juvenile property crime cases waived to adult court: 45
Percent of juvenile violent crime cases waived to adult court: 34
Percent of juvenile drug cases waived to adult court: 12
Change in rate of waiving juvenile drug cases to adult court, 1987-1991: +152
Cost of incarcerating youth, per year: $3,200,000,000
Number of hours some Idaho 13-year-olds were forced to stand with their noses pressed against a wall, for "talking" (per day): 16
Economics
Average cost of incarceration per inmate per year: $22,000
Ratio of increase in national corrections spending to increase in military spending over the last 20 years: 3:1
Estimated 1996 percent increase in total prison appropriations: 13.3
Average cost of prison construction, per cell: $54,000
Amount spent on private security systems by individuals and businesses, per year: $65,000,000,000
Range of estimates for the ratio of white collar crime to personal and household crime in terms of economic cost: 7:1 to 25:1
Annual revenue of the private prison industry: $250,000,000
Number of privately managed prisons: 88
Number of prisoners in privately managed prisons in 1984: 2,500
Number of prisoners in privately managed prisons in 1996, approximately: 50,000
Proportion of growth rate of private prisons to growth rate of state prisons: 4:1
Number of full-time corrections employees, 1992: 523,000
Number of Fortune 500 companies that employ more than 523,000 people: 1
What the unemployment rate of 5.9% would be if male prisoners were counted as part of the labor force: 7.5%
Percent of Connecticut major felony defendants represented by public defenders: 75
Percent of all justice system money spent on police: 43
Percent of all justice system money spent on prisons: 34
Percent of all justice system money spent on courts: 13
Percent of all justice system money spent on prosecutors: 8
Percent of all justice system money spent on public defenders: 2
Amount of money Virginia prisoners are given when they are released, in addition to a bus ticket: $25
California
Ratio of California prison spending to higher education spending 15 years ago: 1:6
Ratio of California prison spending to higher education spending in 1994: 1:1
Average salary for a California corrections officer: $55,000
Number of members of California's Correctional Peace Officers Association: 23,000
Rank of California's Correctional Peace Officers Association among all California campaign contributors: 2
Percent change in California prison population, 1980-1993: +400
Percent of those additional cells filled with people convicted of violent crimes: 27
Percent of second and third felony convictions in Los Angeles County, under "three strikes" law, that were for murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, or carjacking, in 1994: 4
Percent change in chance of going to jail for a drug arrest in California in 1992, compared to 1980: +500
Cost of life incarceration for average California prisoner: $1,500,000
Rand Corporation's estimate of the annual cost of California's "three strikes" law: $4,500,000,000-6,500,000,000
California's annual prison system budget, not counting construction of new prisons: $3,600,000,000
Proportion of California inmates sentenced on drug offenses who are Black: 7/10
Proportion of California prison drug treatment slots allocated to whites: 2/3
Number of officers who participated in the "Operation Sunrise" ghetto-sweep to capture oppressed-nation gang members in Los Angeles: 800
Number of "Operation Sunrise" arrests: 63
Number of "Operation Sunrise" arrests that led to violent felony charges: 1
