S. Census Bureau, as the collection agent, drew a sample of jail facilities (934) in 875 jurisdictions based on information from the 2005 Census of Jail Inmates. Local jail jurisdictions included counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administered one or more local jails. The 2009 ASJ sample included all jails with certainty that were operated jointly by two or more jurisdictions, or multi-jurisdictional jails." (p. 1) In spite of the impression that reigns in discussions over prison overcrowding and the emphasis on incarceration in the United States administration of justice, recent patterns show incarceration rates are actually trending downward. According to a press release from Kara McCarthy (2011), "the U.S. local jail inmate population has declined for the second consecutive year, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The jail population declined by 2.4% in the 12 months ending June 30, 2010." (McCarthy, p. 1)

So too did the incarceration rate per general population decline to 242 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, the lowest of such rates since 2003. Larger urban areas accounted for the change in particular, McCarthy reports, with Los Angeles County, Philadelphia, PA and Harris County being among the leaders in this decline. (McCarthy, p. 1) According to McCarthy, by midyear 2010, jails through the nation were operating at a rated capacity of 86%, which is the lowest of such figures since 2004.
Both the high rate of incarceration in America and the recent trends of decline warrant further examination in the form of a broader research endeavor.

Works Cited:

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). (2009). Annual Survey of Jails. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

McCarthy, K. (2011). U.S. Jail Population Continues to Decline. Bureau…