MORE PRISON INMATES, BUT LESS CRIME TOO

Law-and-order advocates can take comfort in the fact that the United States soon may surpass Russia as the nation with the highest rate of incarceration.

The Justice Department says that over the past 12 years the number of adult Americans incarcerated in this country has more than doubled, reaching its highest level ever last year. In mid-1998, an estimated 1.8 million people were behind bars, compared with 744,200 at the end of 1985.

That means there were 668 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents last June, compared with 313 per 100,000 people in 1985. In Russia, 685 people our of every 100,000 are locked up, but 100,000 are to be freed under an amnesty plan. According to Sentencing Project, a U.S. group critical of the general trend toward harsher sentencing of American criminals, with the Russian amnesty plan and more people being incarcerated in the United States, this country soon will have the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

It isn't surprising that more people are being incarcerated in the United States. There has been for sometime now a huge outcry for tougher sentencing, particularly in drug cases, and judges around the nation have been sending more people to prison.

Interestingly, the number of inmates in federal prisons has grown most significantly during the 1990s. The number of those prisoners grew by 8.3 percent last year, while the number of inmates in state prisons grew 4.1 percent and the number in local jails grew 4.5 percent. Two thirds of the nation's inmates are in federal and state prisons.

The numbers would reflect that much of the increase in the number of federal prisoners is attributable to drug cases. That is because tougher federal laws and increased drug enforcement and prosecution have landed more people in prison who might otherwise have been granted probation before. Like Missouri, many states have adopted laws that make it tougher on criminals, particularly repeat offenders.

The fact is judges at all levels are no longer hesitant to put people behind bars, regardless of prison overcrowding. Because of overcrowding, Missouri is building three new prisons, and for the first time in a long time the governor has not asked for new prisons in his budget request.

Those who would argue that incarceration is not the answer to the nation's crime problem should consider that the incidence of crime is on the decline in this country. Perhaps it is because fewer criminals are on the streets, and those who have spent time have learned that a prison is not a good environment in which to live one's life.