ADULTS IN CORRECTIONS ON THE RISE, REPORT SAYS

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
nation's 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.

"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."

Nearly 4 million people were on probation, 2.8 percent more than in
2000, while there was a 1 percent increase of those on parole, to
731,147. The number of people in prison grew by 1.1 percent to 1.3
million, the smallest annual increase in nearly three decades. There
was a 1.6 percent increase of people in jails, to 631,240. More than
half of those on probation - 53 percent - had been convicted of
felonies, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

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

In addition, some states have eliminated mandatory minimum sentences
for certain crimes. California's Proposition 36, passed in 2000 with
61 percent of the vote, requires treatment rather than incarceration
for nonviolent drug offenders. Most of those drug users wind up on
probation.

Texas had more adults under correctional supervision than any other
state, 755,100. California was second with 704,900. Texas also had the
most adults on probation, 443,684, followed by California at 350,768.