The total U.S. correctional population—including people serving prison and jail sentences and those on probation and parole—decreased by 0.8 percent (52,200 people) from 2013 to 2014, according to a report released yesterday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Researchers attribute the slight drop to a decline in the number of people under community supervision, which has decreased by an average 1.2 percent per year since 2007. But the number of inmates in prisons and jails increased by about 1,900 in 2014.
Findings include:
- The jail population grew by 1.8 percent during 2014 while the prison population dropped by 1 percent—a decrease attributed to a decline in state prison populations (10,100) and federal prison populations (5,300).
- About 1 in 36 adults (or 2.8 percent) was under correctional supervision at the end of 2014— the lowest rate since 1996.
- The number of people on probation has declined by an annual average of 1.5 percent since 2007, while the number of people on parole grew by an annual average of 0.5 percent during the same time period.
- Seven jurisdictions—Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the federal system—accounted for almost half (48 percent) of the U.S. correctional population in 2014.
Read the report HERE.