Overall number of people in state prisons drops for first time since 1972 - but not in OR
For the first time since 1972, the number of people in state prisons fell. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), state prison populations decreased by nearly 3,000 people between 2008 and 2009. The Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a non-profit research and policy organization dedicated to reducing society’s reliance on incarceration, believes that while this is a move in the right direction, an overall increase in the number of people in prison over the past year, and the fact that half the states continue to increase their prison populations, means we still have a long way to go.
