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| More inmates, less death row |
| By Sarah Etter, News Reporter |
| Published: 12/18/2006 |
The Bureau of Justice Statistics released two studies last week that showed an increase in incarceration, but a decrease in death sentences and death row inmates. The numbers reflect incarceration rates in 2005, but they provide an idea of where corrections might be heading. 
The BJS study Prisoners in 2005 found that three percent of adults in the U.S. population were under supervision in some way, whether it was incarceration, probation or parole. The total number of offenders under supervision reached an all time high of seven million, with 14 states reportedly incarcerating five percent more people.
According to report co-author Paige Harrison, crunching numbers this large takes quite some time. “We use a couple of different data sets,” Harrison says. “We survey inmates in state correctional facilities every five or six years, and those surveys take two hours per inmate. We ask them about everything from criminal history to drug and alcohol abuse to education and jobs and marital status. It's a very detailed look at their incarceration and involvement with the criminal justice system.” The report also found that seven percent of inmates are being held in private prisons, and five percent of all inmates are being held in local jails. BJS also released another study called Capital Punishment. Researchers found that for the fifth straight year, the number of prisoners with a death sentence had dropped. At the end of 2005, there were 3,254 offenders on death row. In 2004, 66 more inmates were either sentenced to death or waiting execution. According to Capital Punishment co-author Tracey Snell a few reasons exist for this decrease. “The data that we collect comes from the DOCs,” Snell says. “It doesn't look specifically at the reasons the numbers might fluctuate, but we can look at some of the things happening in the courts for a partially educated guess. There have been several recent Supreme Court decisions that will probably have an impact on the death penalty, the most recent being the ruling that persons under the age of 18 could not be sentenced to death for crimes they committed during their youth.” Capital Punishment also shows that half of all death row inmates were held in California, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania. It is not clear why these states have the most populated death rows. Harrison and Snell both caution that BJS is only focusing on the numbers, but Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says these digits might indicate a nation-wide shift in opinion. “It is very significant that we're seeing this drop in the death penalty over five consecutive years,” he says. “It's not just death sentences, but also the size of death row and the number of executions that we're carrying out. The death penalty has special problems. People are becoming more concerned that we're executing innocent people.” According to Dieter the drop in death penalty cases aren't a fluke either. “We're seeing Texas, California and Florida these are big death penalty states reduce the number of people executed. This is not an isolated phenomenon. It does say that confidence in the death penalty is shaken in this country. I don't think it means that next year we will see zero executions, but we are seeing a move towards only using it in very selective cases.” However, Dieter is quick to point out that if these statistics are considered internationally, the U.S. might be part of a wider trend. “There is an international sense that everyone, as a whole, is moving away from the death penalty. I think we're starting to see some of that here, too,” he adds. But when these statistics are viewed together, it can be seen that while 2005 was a year of incarcerating a large number of people, there were less death sentences for those offenders. BJS reporters are reluctant to comment on that aspect of the digits. “It is our job to provide the numbers that frame the subsequent discussions [about the criminal justice system]” says Harrison. “When people ask questions about the system, we can provide a framework to support their arguments through our research. If there is a discussion to be had, our numbers can be the basis for that.” Dieter also isn't quick to jump to assumptions. “I do think in context, we are seeing a change in the shape of the criminal justice system,” he says. “These numbers could be short term issues or they could be indicative of something larger. For that, we will have to wait and see.” Related Resources The Death Penalty Information Center |
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