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Nation's Correctional Population Tops 5 Million

NCJ Number
171328
Date Published
August 1995
Annotation
More than 5.1 million Americans, almost 2.7 percent of the adult population, were under some form of correctional supervision; about 75 percent of these men and women were being supervised in the community on probation or parole, while the others were confined in jail or prison.
Abstract

The number of adults incarcerated or under supervision in the community increased by 3.9 percent during 1994. At the end of 1994, 2,962,000 adults were on probation under community supervision; an additional 690,000 adults were on parole. Texas had the largest number of adults on probation and parole with more than 503,000 under such supervision, followed by California with 370,000. At the end of 1994, more than 3.8 percent of all adults in Texas were on probation or parole. Thirteen States reported fewer than 1 percent of their adult populations were on probation or parole. North Dakota had the lowest probation and parole supervision rate per 100,000 adults (450), followed by West Virginia (517), Mississippi (552), and Kentucky (553). Overall, State and Federal probation and parole populations rose by 2 percent during 1994. Half of all offenders on probation in 1994 were on probation for a felony, about 21 percent of probationers were women and 10 percent of parolees were women, and 64 percent of adults on probation were white and 35 percent were black. 6 tables and 1 figure

Date Published: August 27, 1995