Aging baby boomers partly explain the rise in older prisonpopulations

Inmates over 50 are the fastest growing population in federal and state prisons, leading to an increased need for, and cost of, prison healthcare services. But what is driving this aging prison population? In new research, Jeremy Luallen finds that rather than harsh sentencing regimes, a significant portion of this ‘graying’ of the prison population is linked to the Baby Boomer-related aging of the general population. They write that in light of the importance of this inescapable demographic change on prison populations, states should focus their efforts on reducing inmate and healthcare costs and ensure any new policies have sunset provisions

Some veterans live longer in prison: what we don’t know is why and how

There are more than 100,000 veterans in U.S. prisons, but until now, little has been known about their mortality rate. In new research drawing on new data from the National Corrections Reporting Program in three states, Jeremy Luallen finds that veterans admitted at younger ages have an increased chance of dying, while those who are admitted over the age of 40 have a lower probability. He writes that the next step for researchers is to look at how and why veteran inmates die

Federal Sentencing Disparity: 2005-2012

Federal Sentencing Disparity, 2005-2012, examines patterns of federal sentencing disparity among white and black offenders, by sentence received, and looks at judicial variation in sentencing since Booker vs. United States, regardless of race. It summarizes U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, discusses how approaches of other researchers to the study of sentencing practices differ from this approach, defines disparity as used in this study, and explains the methodology. This working paper was prepared by Abt Associates for BJS in response to a request by the Department of Justice’s Racial Disparities Working Group to design a study of federal sentencing disparity. Data are from BJS’s Federal Justice Statistics Program, which annually collects federal criminal justice processing data from various federal agencies. The analysis uses data mainly from the U.S. Sentencing Commission