Statistics on Prisoner Population Rates
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More descriptive posts on prison conditions are here.
Content:
1. Number of people incarcerated
2. Prison occupancy
3. The US
4. Race and incarceration in the US and the UK
5. Crime rates
1. Number of people incarcerated
This map shows the number of people per 100.000 citizens who are incarcerated:
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2. Prison occupancy
And this graph shows the under- or over-use of prisons (prison occupancy, or the number of prisoners compared to the number of places in prisons – over 100% indicates overpopulation in prisons, and hence bad prison conditions):
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3. The US
These are the data for the U.S.:
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4. Race and incarceration in the US and the UK
The racial distribution of inmates in the U.S. is highly negative for black Americans. Whereas they only make up 12% of the total U.S. population, they represent more than 40% of inmates:
U.S. population by race:
U.S. inmates by race:
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The same is true for the U.K.:
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5. Crime rates
Prison population statistics do not compare to crime rate statistics. National authorities can be more or less effective in the prosecution of crime, and this is reflected in prison population statistics. A low percentage of the population that is incarcerated doesn’t imply a low crime rate. It can just as well imply ineffective prosecution.
Regarding crime rate statistics, there are some misunderstandings about so-called “immigrant crime”, especially in the U.S.:
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