Crime

Recent figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) report that violent and property crime are declining. For example, from 2003 to 2004, the index for violent crime indicates a drop of 2.2 percent. Perhaps more telling is that between 1995 and 2004 the same index reports an overall decline in violent crime of 32 percent. The trend for property crime is equally noteworthy. Figures from the NCVS report a 2.1 percent decrease from 2003 to 2004. Moreover, the rate of property crime from 1995 to 2004 fell by 23.4 percent. Clearly, these data suggest that the problem of crime is increasingly under control and that the mechanisms to contain it are working effectively. However, interpreting the data reveals another story.

For instance, if the focus is on the incarceration rate, the BJS reports that the number of persons in federal and state prisons rose by 1.9 percent in 2004. While this rate of increase is lower than the average rate of growth during the past decade (3.2 percent) and slightly lower than the growth rate during 2003 (2 percent), the total convict population is currently in excess of 2.4 million (approximately 1.5 million in federal and state facilities, another 800,000 in local jails, and another 100,000 in juvenile settings).

Complicating these incarceration trends are the increasing number of overcrowded facilities and concerns related to both the types of offenses committed most frequently and those identified as responsible for them. As of the end of 2004,24 state prisons were operating at or above their highest capacity. Additionally, 40 percent of federal facilities were operating above their capacity. According to the BJS, half of those persons serving time in state prisons were incarcerated for violent crimes, 20 percent for property crimes, and 21 percent for drug offenses. Moreover, as of December 31, 2004, 104,848 women were confined in state and federal prisons. This is an astonishing 65 percent increase when compared with the 68,468 women in prison in 1995. The BJS also indicates that women represented 7 percent of all persons incarcerated in 2004. This is a 6.1 percent increase from the figure reported in 1995.

When tracking race, the incarceration trends are also quite revealing. The BJS reports that as of December 31, 2004, approximately 8.4 percent of all black males living in the United States who were between the ages of 25 and 29 were incarcerated. Hispanics made up 2.5 percent for this same age group, and whites constituted 1.2 percent for this age cohort. When combining the figures for male and female convicts, 41 percent were black, 19 percent were Hispanic, and 34 percent were white. The remaining percentage was composed of people who were either of another race or of some grouping of two or more races.

What these incarceration data suggest is that the story behind recent declining rates of crime is related to the swelling number of people criminally confined. Overwhelmingly, these individuals are poor, young, and of color. Moreover, state and federal trends in arrest, prosecution, and conviction show that persons [Page 178]subjected to these criminal justice practices are typically males who also are disproportionately poor, young, and of color. How should the problem of crime be understood, given society's emphasis on incarceration?

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