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2010 U. Chi. Legal F. 73 (2010)
The Durability of Prison Populations

handle is hein.journals/uchclf2010 and id is 75 raw text is: The Durability of Prison Populations John F. Pfaff t Over the past thirty years the US prison population has exploded in a way unparalleled in American history or world ex- perience. Since the mid-1970s it has quintupled in size, from just over 300 thousand inmates to more than 1.5 million. One out of every one hundred adults-and nearly one out of every twenty black males-is behind bars. The United States is home to under 5 percent of the world's population, but it warehouses approxi- mately one out of every three of its prisoners.1 Such a sprawling penal system is expensive. By 2004, states were spending a total of nearly $40 billion per year to maintain their populations. Correctional spending generally makes up on- ly about 2 percent of overall state budgets, but 10 to 20 percent of state discretionary spending. Even before the current recession, state legislators were beginning to look for ways to trim back prison populations and expenditures.2 As state budgets have been eviscerated over the past year and a half, the need for re- form grows all the stronger. If policymakers are serious about reining in prison popula- tions (and thus spending), it is essential that they understand t Associate Professor, Fordham Law School. Thanks to the participants at the University of Chicago Legal Forum's conference on Crime, Criminal Law, and the Reces- sion for very helpful comments. Sean Koehler provided outstanding research assistance. All errors are my own. 1 See Pew Center on the States, One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008 5, 35 (2008), online at httpV/www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/8015PCTSPrisonO8 -FINAL_2-1-1_FORWEB.pdf (visited Oct 3, 2010); Roy Walmsley, World Prison Popula- tion List, 3 (King's College London International Center for Prison Studies 2007), online at httpi/www.kcl.ac.uk/depstaVlaw/researcb/icps/downloads/world-prison-pop-seventh.pdf (visited Oct 3, 2010). The one-in-three figure includes both prison and jail populations, but the United States' share of the world's prison populations (as opposed to its prison and jail populations) is likely similar. 2 See, for example, Robin Campbell, Dollars and Sentences: Legislators' Views on Prisons, Punishment, and the Budget Crisis (Vera Institute of Justice 2003), online at http//www.vera.org/download?file=105/Dollars%2Band%2Bsentences.pdf (visited Oct 3, 2010); Daniel F. Wilhelm and Nicholas R. Turner, Issues in Brief. Is the Budget Crisis Changing the Way We Look at Sentencing and Incarceration? (Vera Institute of Justice 2002), online at http;//www.vera.org/download?file=269/IIB0/2BBudgetO/2Bcrisis.pdf (visited Oct 3, 2010).

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