The Department of Justice recently put out a press release stating that the total incarceration rate of state and federal inmates in 2019, at 419 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents, was the lowest the incarceration rate has been since 1995. The press release discusses the gradual increase in the incarceration rate since the 1990s and breaks down the changing trends by race and by type of crime. Given the number of inmates released during the COVID-19 pandemic, this number may continue to decrease, at least in the short term.
Click here to read the press release.