In 2010, the United States had to spend approximately $80 billion on the system of its prisons and jails which means the nation spent around $260 for each of its citizens. As per the statistics, 2.2 million Americans were in prison or jail in 2012, which is a bigger percentage of population behind bars than in almost any other country. This is also approximately five times the number versus other industrialized nations. In such a situation it is obvious that such a huge amount of money was spent for punishment.
In the United States, there is a theory that crime rose in the 1960s and 1970s mainly due to decline in manufacturing employment, whereas, in 1980s and 1990s, a major reason of crimes was crack cocaine. But with so many Americans in prison, one needs to know that it is also the US policies regarding crime that drove up imprisonment rates.
Harsh sentencing has been a way to remove criminals form society. Since 1975 to 2002, mandatory sentencing laws with minimum sentences, have been adopted by all 50 states. Harsher gun laws including Florida’s 10/20/Life were passed. For punishing repeat offenders, many states adopted “three strikes” laws. In such a scenario, judges are left with no ways to offer shorter sentences. The prison population surged and by 2012, the number of Americans behind bars had tripled to 0.7 percent.
With this increase, the United States saw a dramatic reduction in violent crime from the 1960s until 2010. However, the released crime figures by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2012 shows that the violent crime rates in the United Sates is on the rise for the second consecutive year. From 19 in 2010, victimizations per thousand rose to 23 in 2011 and 26 in 2012. As per the latest figures, the fall in serious crime in the U.S started in the mid-1990s which continued downward till 2010. Between 1996 and 2001, there was a drop in the rate of violent crimes in US; from 65 victimizations per 1,000 it came down to 33.
When speaking about violent crimes in US, as per FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, the four offenses encompassed by violent crime are murder, robbery, forcible rape and aggravated assault.
In the year 2012, the estimated number of violent crimes reported to law enforcement was 1,214,462 and this includes 14,827 murders; 354,520 robberies; 84,376 forcible rapes and 760,739 aggravated assaults. According to the statistics, of all reported violent crimes, the South accounted for around 40.9%. Of all reported violent crimes, aggravated assaults accounted for 62.6%. Of all reported murders, in 69.3% cases firearms were used. Of all robberies, 43.5% occurred on highways or streets.
When accused of any kind of crime, you have two important steps. The first and thing to do would be seeking a bail to avoid prolonged jailtime. While procuring a bail bond can be quite challenging, the bail bond agents can be of real help. Today, in the age of high-end technology, getting the right bail bond is easier, quicker and simpler when done online through an online bail bond agency. When it is about getting bail bonds in paterson nj, an online bail bond agency can be a wise option to get it done in the most hassle-free way.
Coming back to the statistics regarding violent crimes, it is revealed that when comparing the figures for the first six months of 2013 with the first six months of 2012, there was a decline in violent crimes as well as in property crimes such as theft. While comparing the first six months data of 2012 with that of 2013, all the offenses in the category of violent crime shows a decline. In all categories of violent crimes like murder, non-negligent manslaughter, aggravated assault, robbery and forcible rape – murder rate declined by 6.9%, aggravated assaults declined by 6.6%, robbery offenses declined by 1.8% and forcible rapes declined by 10.6%. The violent crime rates in the first six months of 2013 as compared to the same period in 2012 shows the maximum decrease of 9.2% which is noted in cities with less than 10,000 population.
While nonmetropolitan counties showed a decline in violent crime by 10.5%, in the metropolitan counties it was 3.6% only. In the four regions of the nation, there was a decrease in violent crime; while the largest was 7.4% in the Midwest, it was 5.9% in the South, 4.3% in the Northeast and 3.7% in the West.
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