"Almost 6.6 million men and women made up the correctional population at the end of 2001, an increase of 147,000 from the end of 2000, according to a report titled "Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001." The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics compiled the report. "
Read Here:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/25/jail.stats/index.html
It appears to me that the "tougher sentencing" imposed by many states and the Federal government, which has been the trend over the past several years, is not very effective.
Tax payers prefer to spend the money to incarcerate than educate.
The county I live in is a prime example of this. They have consistenly voted down increased property tax, bonds etc., even though the county School Districts have extensive needs.
The crime rate is un-proportionately high for the population base, mostly drug related crimes and the editorials in the paper is always about tougher sentencing, not better education, or even better treatment centers, which are virtually non-existent in this county.
Wrong headed priorities seem to win out every time.