The Bureau of Justice Statistics has recently released their annual data on correctional populations in the United States, comparing the latest data with prior years.
The overall rate of 2.8 percent of adults in the United States being under some form of correctional supervision is the lowest since 1996. The trend toward reducing correctional populations is driven by changes in a few states, not all of them.
One way to provide some context here is to see which states have the highest and lowest rates, the most and the least amount of people in the correctional system. The states with the highest rates of correction supervision per 100,000 residents aged 18 and over are Georgia, Idaho, Ohio Pennsylvania and Texas.
From 2005 to 2014, the total correctional population in the United States fell by 241,000 from 7,055,600 to 6,814,600. The correction population increased in 26 states by a total of 283,100. So which states are increasing their correctional populations? The biggest increases from 2005 to 2014 were in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Colorado and Tennessee.
There is no clear pattern here with respect of state marijuana laws, but there is an interesting trend worth noting. Overall, looking at state data and adjusting for population, the rate for people under community supervision is twice the incarceration rate. Some states rely on community supervision much more than others.
Marijuana law reform and legalization are sound policies with great merit, but they are also part of a larger issue in the United States, the reform of the criminal justice system in ways that reduce the number of people under correctional supervision.
The good news is that many states are receptive to criminal justice reform, particularly ones that have already made a commitment to community supervision as an alternative to incarceration.
The bad news is that other states remain committed to increasing arrests and increasing correctional populations. These states, their criminal justice professionals, and their political leaders will present the greatest challenges to the legalization of cannabis throughout the United States.
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