U.S. prison population hits new high: 2.3 million Americans behind bars

www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-29 23:08:07

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) --

More than one percent of American adults are behind bars, an all-time high that is costing the U.S. government more than 55 billion U.S. dollars a year, a new report said.

With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, according to the report by nonpartisan Pew Center on the States that came out Friday.

The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s.

However, despite reaching its latest milestone, the nation's incarcerated population has been growing more slowly since 2000 than it did during the 1990s, when harsher sentencing laws began to take effect.

Editor: Yan Liang

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