VIRGINIA'S INCARCERATION RATE FAR EXCEEDS CRIME RATE

Virginia is not alone in its zeal to place criminals behind bars. Locking
people up is as American as apple pie these days and has become a benchmark
of conservative politicians. Still, Virginia sticks out from the crowd.

The United States locks up about 670 people per 100,000 -- an incarceration
rate that towers above every other nation's in the world except Russia's.
Most other countries imprison their citizens at far lower rates -- 40 per
100,000 in Japan, 115 in China, 155 in Iran, to name a few.

The number of Americans behind bars hit an estimated 2 million last month
- -- the biggest imprisoned population in the world.

Virginia's crime rate ranks 36th among the 50 states, but its incarceration
rate is the 19th highest. About 640 Virginians per 100,000 are behind bars.

Few states have incarceration rates that rank so much higher than their
crime rates.

Virginia's crime rate is comparable to states like Iowa and Wisconsin, but
its incarceration rate is closer to those of high-crime states like Florida
and Maryland.

North Carolina's crime rate is substantially higher than Virginia's -- the
13th highest in the nation. But its incarceration rate -- about 550 per
100,000 -- ranks below Virginia's, and is tied with New Jersey at 22nd.

West Virginia's incarceration rate is less than half of Virginia's.

Behind these numbers is another key statistic. Virginia not only locks up a
higher percentage of its residents than most states, but keeps them in
prison longer.

One-third of Virginia prisoners are serving 20 years to life, according to
the 1998 Corrections Yearbook. Only 10 states have a bigger proportion of
inmates serving such long sentences.

``It's not that there's more crime; it's that you're cutting off exit from
prison,'' said Lucien X. Lombardo, a professor of sociology and criminal
justice at Old Dominion University. ``You're creating demand for prisons,
in a sense.''

Below is the index for this series of articles:

US VA: Virginia Is Paying The Price For Prison Boom
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n326/a09.html

US VA: Overbuilt Prisons Must Import Criminals
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a01.html

US VA: Virginia's Incarceration Rate Far Exceeds Crime Rate
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a02.html

US VA: Department Of Corrections Denies Information Requests
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a03.html

US VA: Drugs, Not Violence, Are The Fuel For Prison Growth
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a04.html

US VA: Expert And Inmates Find Faults In Prison Drug-Treatment
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n331/a13.html

US VA: Poll Shows Little Support For Gilmore's Get-Tough Drug
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a05.html

US VA: Blacks Imprisoned At Rate Out Of Proportion To Drug Use
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n327/a06.html

US VA: Cost Of Housing Older Inmates Goes Up As Risk Goes Down
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n328/a01.html

US VA: New Prisons Bring Much-Needed Jobs To Rural Areas
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n328/a02.html

US VA: Party And Racial Lines Divide Lawmakers On Prison Reform
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n332/a01.html