2012 Statistics from Department of Justice

A total of approximately 6,937,600 offenders were under the supervision of adult correctional systems at the end of 2012. Over the course of the year, the correctional population decreased by approximately 51,000. This decrease during 2012 marked the fourth consecutive year of decline in the U.S. correctional population. Although the correctional population declined by 0.7 percent during 2012, this was the slowest rate of decline observed since 2009, when the correctional population first began to decrease. Approximately 1 in every 35 adults in the United States (2.9 percent of adult residents) was on probation or parole or incarcerated in prison or jail, the same rate as in 1997. An estimated 1 in every 50 adult residents was supervised in the community on probation or parole at the end of the year, compared to 1 in every 108 adults incarcerated in prison or jail. The decrease in the probation population (down 38,300) and prison population (down 21,100) accounted for nearly all of the decline in the total correctional population during 2012. Fifty-six percent of the decrease in the U.S. correctional population during 2012 was attributed to a decline in California’s correctional population (down by 28,700 offenders). 

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