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CNN Sunday Morning

State Prison Population Went Down Over the Last Half of 2000

Aired August 12, 2001 - 17:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: A Department of Justice study released today indicates there were fewer criminals behind bars in state prisons last year for the first time since 1972. Thirteen states experienced substantial reductions in inmate populations in the second half of the year 2000. The biggest decreases in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

During the same period, five state -- Idaho, North Dakota, Mississippi, Vermont and Iowa -- had increases of at least 10 percent in their prison populations.

Allen Beck is one of the authors of this government report and he joins us now on the telephone from Philadelphia. Mr. Beck, thank you for joining us.

ALLEN BECK, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Hi, good afternoon.

FRAZIER: We should point out that for the entire year as a whole, not just the last half of 2000, the prison population did grow, but those declines in some states are the headline. What is behind those reductions?

BECK: Well, I think what we've seen is that the impact of sentencing reforms that we experienced mid-1990s has really played itself out. We've increased lengths of stay, we've increased (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of incarceration, but at the same time crime went down and arrests for serious crimes went down, and so we have seen the effects and the playing out of that.

And now I think, barring additional reforms to increase sanctioning, we may well see increasing releases and ultimately some drops in the population.

FRAZIER: Now, those reforms you mentioned actually increased the number of people in prison, but those you say -- we have moved past those now?

BECK: Right. Well, that's right. We have seen the effects, we increased the prison population to over 1.2 million state inmates and 145,000 federal inmates. And so, those sentencing reforms have been around for a while, and barring additional reforms we may well see some equilibrium in place that causes the population to level off.

FRAZIER: What about the demographic shifts of which so much used to be made, that the number of young men who are those prone to crime is now actually decreasing? That too is a demographic bulge that has moved them into middle age.

BECK: Well, we have seen an aging of the population and an aging of the prison population, and so, if you will, a middle-age bulge is occurring. It isn't really, though, about demographics, it really is about sentencing and sanctioning of offending, and I think the lesson of the 1990s was that we chose to incarcerate more people, particularly violent offenders, and house them there longer, and we have seen the consequences of that.

FRAZIER: And what should we make of the contrast in geography? Some states way down, others dramatically up.

BECK: Well, we see in the Northeast an actual drop of nearly 3 percent in the inmate population, largely driven by Massachusetts and New York. I think that's a consequence of the drop in crime and it ultimately -- people under those new sentencing laws being released, we are seeing geographical variation.

The South having very slow growth this time out. In the past, the South has typically grown at a greater pace than others -- other regions. Much higher rates of incarceration in the South than in the Midwest or the Northeast, however.

FRAZIER: Well, Mr. Beck, thank you for explaining that complicated report. Allen Beck is a statistician with the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Justice Department. Thank you, Mr. Beck.

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