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America’s incarceration rate is in decline

(www.theatlantic.com)
236 points paulpauper | 1 comments | 25 Jun 25 17:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.217s | source
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kiernanmcgowan ◴[25 Jun 25 18:15 UTC] No.44380288[source]▶
> After peaking at just more than 1.6 million Americans in 2009

> But a prison is a portrait of what happened five, 10, and 20 years ago.

Is this just a result of the dropping crime rates since the mid 90s, but on a 20ish year lag?

replies(2): >>44380335 #>>44380522 #
1. standardUser ◴[25 Jun 25 18:37 UTC] No.44380522[source]▶
Mandatory minimum sentences can be 10, 15 or 20 years depending on the quantity of drug and other factors. Often just for possession. The US spent several decades filling our prisons with people using those sentences, and we still do, just not as aggressively.