RECORD 6.6 MILLION CONVICTED

1 in 32 Adults In Jail, Prison, On Probation

WASHINGTON - One in every 32 adults in the United States was behind bars or
on probation or parole by the end of last year, according to a government
report Sunday that found a record 6.6 million people in the correctional
system.

The number of adults under supervision by the criminal justice system rose
by 147,700, or 2.3 percent, between 2000 and 2001, the Justice Department
reported. In 1990, almost 4.4 million adults were incarcerated or being
supervised.

In Florida, 424,500 people were in the correctional system, with 297,400 on
probation or parole and 127,000 imprisoned.

"The overall figures suggest that we've come to rely on the criminal
justice system as a way of responding to social problems in a way that's
unprecedented," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing
Project, an advocacy and research group that favors alternatives to
incarceration. "We're setting a new record every day."

Almost 4 million people were on probation, 2.8 percent more than in 2000,
and the number of people in prison grew by 1.1 percent to 1.3 million, the
smallest annual increase in nearly three decades. More than half of those
on probation - 53 percent - had been convicted of felonies, according to
the Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

But arrests for murder, rape and other violent crimes declined. Many of
those on probation were convicted of using illegal drugs or driving while
intoxicated, the report showed.

Also, some states have eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for certain
crimes. California's Proposition 36, passed in 2000 , requires treatment
rather than incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. "The collection of
reforms, from drug courts to treatment in lieu of incarceration to sentence
reforms like getting rid of mandatory minimums and expanding community
correction options, have the effect of redirecting people from prison to
probation," said Nick Turner, director of national programs at Vera
Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research group.

The report said 46 percent of those discharged from parole in 2001 had met
the conditions of supervision, and 40 percent went back to jail or prison
for violations.

Texas had more adults under correctional supervision than any other state:
755,100. Whites accounted for 55 percent of those on probation, and blacks
made up 31 percent, statistics show.