How does the U.S. prison population compare to the rest of the world?
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
Less than 5% of the world’s population is in the United States, but 20% of the world’s incarcerated people are right here in the United States. 11 million people are in jail or prison worldwide. What total number of people are currently incarcerated in the U.S.?
If you started with the country that had the smallest number of incarcerated people and worked your way up, how many countries would it take to equal the number of people incarcerated in the United States?
In the U.S. 1.07% of working-age adults are incarcerated (that is over 1 in 100). Explain whether you think that is good.
Out of 100,000 people, the United States 664; the country of Italy incarcerates 89 people; The country of Japan incarcerates 38. Why do you think the U.S. incarcerates a vastly higher percentage of its population than other countries that are economically and politically similar to the U.S.?
Describe one consequence of the difference in the incarceration rates of these countries.
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by yourself using your brain and the links below:
List one thing the visual makes you wonder:
The U.S. prison population is largely drawn from the most disadvantaged part of the nation's population: mostly men under age 40, disproportionately minority, and poorly educated. In the United States Blacks are incarcerated at about 5 times the rate of Whites. The racial and ethnic makeup of U.S. prisons continues to look substantially different from the demographics of the country as a whole. In 2018, black Americans represented 33% of the sentenced prison population, nearly triple their 12% share of the U.S. adult population. Whites accounted for 30% of prisoners, about half their 63% share of the adult population. Hispanics accounted for 23% of inmates, compared with 16% of the adult population. Why do you think we disproportionately incarcerate people of color?
Did you know that over 550,000 Americans are currently locked up who have not been convicted or sentenced? Many of them are detained because they can’t afford to pay bail. Do you think people should be imprisoned for being poor?
Between 1987 and 2007 state spending on incarceration increased 6 x faster than spending on higher education. How has that impacted you?
Although numbers have fallen slightly in recent years, since 1970, incarceration rates in the United States have gone up seven fold. If it were up to you, what would you do about American mass incarceration.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Check out the Bail Project’s ambitious plan to reduce the American prison population then act on your learning.
Get Creative
Imagine the U.S. adopted policies that reduced its prison population to that of Japan. Make a creative creative response to this scenario.
Learn More
On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States are locked up in jail simply because they don't have enough money to pay bail. The sums in question are often around $500: easy for some to pay, impossible for others. This has real human consequences -- people lose jobs, homes and lives, and it drives racial disparities in the legal system. Robin Steinberg has a bold idea to change this. In this powerful talk, she outlines the plan for The Bail Project -- an unprecedented national revolving bail fund to fight mass incarceration.