November 30, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: A record 7 million citizens, approximately one out of every 32 American adults, is either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole, according to statistics released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) this week.
The DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 2.2 million Americans are behind bars and more than 4.1 million Americans are on probation. Nearly 800,000 citizens are on parole.
In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men -- about one in 13 -- are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. The figures are not much different among women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanics and more than three times as likely as white women to be in prison.
To put this in perspective, 7 million is the total population of Israel.
ADG Webmaster