From a must-read New York Times piece on a new report showing the United States has reached its highest level of incarceration in history -- 1 in 100 adults behind bars.
The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 is behind bars, but that one in 100 black women is.
The report's methodology differed from that used by the Justice Department, which calculates the incarceration rate by using the total population rather than the adult population as the denominator. Using the department's methodology, about one in 130 Americans is behind bars.
Wow. So the federal government includes two-year olds in its accounting of the incarceration rate? That seems fair and accurate.
--Dana Goldstein
