America’s incarceration rate is in decline

This is good news. The level of crime and number of offenders has decreased.

Quotes from the article:

     > As of 2016—the most recent year for which data are available—the average man in state prison had been arrested nine times, was currently incarcerated for his sixth time, and was serving a 16-year sentence.


     > But starting in the late 1960s, a multidecade crime wave swelled in America, and an unprecedented number of adolescents and young adults were criminally active. In response, the anti-crime policies of most local, state, and federal governments became more and more draconian.


     > Rapidly declining numbers of youth are committing crimes, getting arrested, and being incarcerated.

The prison industry is very profitable and influential. If prison populations are dropping naturally, you might imagine that politicians might start looking for some new population to incarcerate.