TWO MILLION INMATES, AND COUNTING

The population of the nation's jails and prisons passed two million last
year, for the first time in history. The United States has one of the
highest incarceration rates in the world, and one that falls unevenly. An
estimated 12 percent of African-American males between 20 and 34 are behind
bars, more than seven times the rate for white men the same age. Our
overflowing jails and prisons come at a high price, in dollars and in wasted
lives.

The number of men and women behind bars today is four times what it was in
the mid-1970's, and it continues to grow. This soaring incarceration rate is
not tied to the violent crime rate, which is lower than it was in 1974. And
it is out of line with imprisonment practices worldwide. The United States
has about 700 inmates per 100,000 residents, compared with fewer than 100
per 100,000 residents in Germany, Italy and Denmark.

One of the main reasons for our heavy use of prisons is harsh sentencing
policies, including "three strikes and you're out" laws, which can require
long prison terms for minor nonviolent crimes. The excesses of the war on
drugs are also a major factor. Nearly 60 percent of federal prisoners and
more than 20 percent of state inmates are in custody on drug charges, in
many cases low-level ones.

These large prison populations are costly, and this is a time of enormous
state and federal budget gaps. When a prisoner is a first offender guilty of
a nonviolent crime, a jail term is often just a very expensive method of
turning a young person who could be set on the right path into a hardened
criminal. It seems far more sensible to reconsider tough mandatory
sentencing laws and build in more discretion for judges to deviate from
guidelines. The money saved could be redirected to alternatives to prison,
including drug treatment and violence prevention programs for youths.

When violent crime rates were higher, many politicians were afraid to be
seen as soft on crime. But now that crime has receded and the public is more
worried about taxes and budget deficits, it would not require extraordinary
courage for elected officials to do the right thing and scale back our
overuse of jails and prison cells.