New research shows steep and continuing decline in prison population in the US
The U.S. prison population is declining at an accelerating rate, and prison admission rates are predicted to fall an additional 50% within the next two decades, according to new research from University at Albany professor Shawn Bushway.
New research reveals that the U.S. prison population is declining at an accelerating rate, with prison admission rates expected to drop by 50% over the next two decades. Professor Shawn Bushway of the University at Albany explains that this is due to the aging out of the generation that filled prisons and the lower crime rates of younger generations.
The study, titled "Running Out of Inmates? Cohort Nonreplacement and the Approaching End of Mass Incarceration," finds that prison admission rates for individuals aged 18 to 30 have already fallen by 53% since 2000, with the largest declines among Black men. The authors project that Black men's prison admission rate will fall from 7.9 times that of white men in 2000 to between 2.0 and 2.3 by 2036.
The research also challenges the assumption among employers that people with criminal records are more likely to reoffend, as new convictions among these individuals are rare within a decade.
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