Reason Magazine

May 2000

Happy Valentine's Day .... For Whom?

By Valentine's Day, America will have more than 2 million of its citizens behind bars.

America, with less than 5% of the world population, has a quarterof the world's prisoners.
There are siz times as many Americans behind bars as are imprisoned in the 12 countries that make up the entire Eurpoean Union, even though those countries have 100 million more citizens than the US.
Our jails and prisons have literally become the 51st state, with a greater combined population than Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Two-thirds of the inmates in America's prisons and jails - over 1.2 million prisoners - are locked up for non-violent offenses. Since 1980, the number of non-violent prisoners has tripled and the number of drug prisoners has increased seven fold.

Source: Justice Policy Institute, "The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium," December 8, 1999

Is the Drug War Turning the United States Into a Police State?

for more information visit http://www.csdp.org

Common Sense for Drug Policy, Kevin B. Zeese, President

(703)354-9050 (703)354-5695 (fax) info@csdp.org