Report: US prison rates an 'injustice' (BBC)

By Anthony Zurcher
Editor, Echo Chambers

Since the 1970s the rate of incarceration in the United States has quadrupled, after having been relatively flat over the prior half-century.

In 1973 the number of Americans in prison was around 200,000. By 2009 that number had grown to 1.5 million. An additional 750,000 Americans are held daily in local jails.

These are the findings of a report released this week from the National Research Council (NRC). The US is the world's top jailor, the report finds, and the numbers aren't even close:

The US penal population of 2.2 million adults is the largest in the world. In 2012, close to 25% of the world's prisoners were held in American prisons, although the United States accounts for about 5% of the world's population. The US rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5- to 10-times higher than rates in Western Europe and other democracies.

Based on the results of its study, the NRC calls the US incarceration rates "historically unprecedented and internationally unique".
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27260073