INDIANA (WANE) — Various policies introduced in the United States legislature have caused the United States to rank as one of the highest countries with a dependence on incarceration in an attempt to stop criminal activity.
According to The Sentencing Project, over five million people in the United States are living under the supervision of the criminal legal system. The rise came after the prison expansion which started in 1973 and reached its peak in 2009, with some of the largest increase happening from 1985 to 1995, where federally the prison and jail population increased by 53%. Mass incarceration rates have many effects on a community including those imprisoned, their families, and the trust in law enforcement.
According to Dominican University, the rise in prison rates came alongside the efforts of the government policy “War on Drugs” introduced by President Richard Nixon in 1971. Nixon declared that drug abuse was “public enemy number one” and increased federal funding to help with drug programs, while also creating the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was not until 1981 when President Ronald Reagan increased law enforcement efforts, that criminal punishment and incarceration rates rose for non-violent drug offenses.
In 2020, the United States saw a 14% decline in jail and prison rates because of lower admission rates and an increase in accelerated releases caused by the pandemic. Since 2010, imprisonment has dropped 25% overall, only possible because of the switch of serving jail over prison time and increases in those on parole.
Overall, Indiana incarceration rates continue to be on the rise as Indiana ranks 18 out of all the states for imprisonment rates per 100,000 people in data by the Sentencing Project from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2021.
While the full data for 2023 has yet to be released by the state of Indiana, a decrease in rates has been seen since pre-pandemic data. In 2018, according to data from the Vera Institute of Justice, 30,347 people were in the Indiana prison system.
As of June 2023, data collected by the Indiana Department of Corrections shows that the overall state-wide total number of offenders for adult facilities was 22,851. There were a total of 20,779 adult male offenders and 2,072 adult female offenders in both jails and prisons in the state of Indiana.
The top crimes committed based on October 2023 data show that violent crimes took two of the top three spots. The top five most common crimes that appeared in Indiana correctional facilities were:
- Murder – 2,949 total
- Child Molesting – 2,657 total
- Dealing in Methamphetamine – 2,377 total
- Burglary – 1,800 total
- Possession of Methamphetamine – 1,343 total
This matches data seen in most of the United States, as more than three in five people- or 62%- sentenced in state prison have been convicted of a violent crime.
To explore more data on prison rates, go to the Sentencing Project’s website or find the state’s latest data on the Indiana Department of Corrections website.
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