![\"Pie](\"\/images\/pie2017.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nThe publication of the new report, with 15 new data visuals, comes at a critical moment. The new administration has taken aim at the past decade\u2019s advances toward criminal justice reform, and has a troubling reliance on \u201calternative facts\u201d to support its agenda. The Whole Pie 2017<\/a><\/i> brings together the most current government data available to provide policymakers and the public a clear and accurate big picture view of punishment in the U.S.\n<\/p>\n \nThe 2017 report shows that mass incarceration is not a single monolithic system. Instead, we have a federal system, 50 state systems, and thousands of local government systems. The byzantine structure of justice systems means the policymaking is equally complex and changes must be made at each level. While the White House is moving away from criminal justice reform, The Whole Pie<\/i> offers the reassuring reminder that the bulk of incarceration flows directly from the policy choices made by state and local \u2014 not federal \u2014 governments.\n<\/p>\n \nOther surprising findings include:<\/p>\n \nThe United States locks up more people than any other country<\/a>, at a rate more than five times higher than most other nations. One impediment to reform is the lack of available data to guide that conversation. In The Whole Pie<\/i>, the Prison Policy Initiative provides the comprehensive view of mass incarceration that society needs in order to plot a path forward.\n<\/p>\n \nThe non-profit non-partisan Prison Policy Initiative was founded in 2001 to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization and spark advocacy campaigns to create a more just society. The organization leads the nation\u2019s fight to keep the prison system from exerting undue influence on the political process (a.k.a. prison gerrymandering<\/a>) and plays a leading role in protecting the families of incarcerated people from the predatory prison and jail telephone industry<\/a> and the video visitation industry<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nMass Incarceration: The Whole Pie, an annual report released each year on Pi Day, is a part of the organization\u2019s National Incarceration Briefing Series<\/a>. Recent reports in that series include Following the Money of Mass Incarceration<\/a>, which aggregates economic data to offer a big picture view of who pays for and who benefits from mass incarceration, and Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time<\/a>, finding that the ability to pay money bail is impossible for too many defendants because it represents eight months of a typical defendant’s income.\n<\/p>\n\n