Numbers

Some numbers to think about…

20% decrease in violent crime from 1980 to 2007

1.8 million people in the US under correctional supervision in 1980

7.2 million people in the US under correctional supervision in 2007

13 percent of illicit drug users are African American

35 percent is the number of drug related arrests that are of African Americans

17,000 is the number of deaths annually from illicit drug use

103,350 is the number of deaths (annually) from alcohol related causes

256.2 per 100,000 is the rate for which black adults are imprisoned for drug offences

25.3 per 100,000 is the rate for which white adults are imprisoned for drug offences

Less than 1% is the difference in illicit drug use rates between whites and blacks

 

And the Republican's are looking for ways to cut the budget? Oh, I forgot. Republicans are big believers in the corrections system that we have and wouldn't mind adding to it. With private prisons. Who pays for those?