{"id":8499,"date":"2019-03-28T10:55:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T14:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=8499"},"modified":"2024-04-09T19:54:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T23:54:15","slug":"urban-incarceration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/28\/urban-incarceration\/","title":{"rendered":"How America’s major urban centers compare on incarceration rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

How has mass incarceration impacted the city you live in? This question frequently drives our readers to ask about the incarceration rates of specific cities. Because of the decentralized nature of criminal justice data, drilling down to the city level is difficult-to-impossible, but now you can calculate the prison<\/i> (but not jail) incarceration rate of a city’s surrounding county using the Vera Institute’s Incarceration Trends Database.<\/a> Using that tool, we calculated the imprisonment rates of the most populous counties in 39 states (all those where data were available) – and uncovered a few surprises.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Rates are per every 100,000 residents. In its Incarceration Trends tool, the Vera Institute presents rates for counties per every 100,000 residents aged 15-64; we calculated the rates using the total populations in their downloadable dataset<\/a> to make them comparable with the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ total state incarceration rates.<\/a> (BJS state incarceration rates are for the jurisdictional population sentenced to greater than 1 year.)<\/caption>\n
State<\/th>\nMost Populous County<\/th>\nAssociated City<\/th>\nCounty Residents in State Prisons: Rate per 100,000 residents<\/th>\nTotal State Prison Incarceration: Rate per 100,000 residents<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Okla.<\/td>\nOklahoma County<\/td>\nOklahoma City<\/td>\n937<\/td>\n703<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pa.<\/td>\nPhiladelphia County<\/td>\nPhiladelphia<\/td>\n897<\/td>\n387<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wis.<\/td>\nMilwaukee County<\/td>\nMilwaukee<\/td>\n812<\/td>\n372<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mich.<\/td>\nWayne County<\/td>\nDetroit<\/td>\n737<\/td>\n430<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ariz.<\/td>\nMaricopa County<\/td>\nPhoenix<\/td>\n666<\/td>\n600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ala.<\/td>\nJefferson County<\/td>\nBirmingham<\/td>\n627<\/td>\n613<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ohio<\/td>\nCuyahoga County<\/td>\nCleveland<\/td>\n627<\/td>\n444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ind.<\/td>\nMarion County<\/td>\nIndianapolis<\/td>\n596<\/td>\n413<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Texas<\/td>\nHarris County<\/td>\nHouston<\/td>\n574<\/td>\n572<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tenn.<\/td>\nShelby County<\/td>\nMemphis<\/td>\n564<\/td>\n427<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Colo.<\/td>\nDenver County<\/td>\nDenver<\/td>\n551<\/td>\n367<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Iowa<\/td>\nPolk County<\/td>\nDes Moines<\/td>\n526<\/td>\n282<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ga.<\/td>\nFulton County<\/td>\nAtlanta<\/td>\n508<\/td>\n506<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Miss.<\/td>\nHinds County<\/td>\nJackson<\/td>\n502<\/td>\n609<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ill.<\/td>\nCook County<\/td>\nChicago<\/td>\n464<\/td>\n378<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ky.<\/td>\nJefferson County<\/td>\nLouisville<\/td>\n453<\/td>\n490<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nev.<\/td>\nClark County<\/td>\nLas Vegas<\/td>\n451<\/td>\n448<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S.D.<\/td>\nMinnehaha County<\/td>\nSioux Falls<\/td>\n443<\/td>\n423<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Calif.<\/td>\nLos Angeles County<\/td>\nLos Angeles<\/td>\n427<\/td>\n330<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S.C.<\/td>\nGreenville County<\/td>\nGreenville<\/td>\n416<\/td>\n416<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ore.<\/td>\nMultnomah County<\/td>\nPortland<\/td>\n401<\/td>\n379<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wyo.<\/td>\nLaramie County<\/td>\nCheyenne<\/td>\n336<\/td>\n408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Neb.<\/td>\nDouglas County<\/td>\nOmaha<\/td>\n336<\/td>\n280<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
W. Va.<\/td>\nKanawha County<\/td>\nCharleston<\/td>\n335<\/td>\n372<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hawaii<\/td>\nHonolulu County<\/td>\nHonolulu<\/td>\n326<\/td>\n263<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mo.<\/td>\nSt. Louis County<\/td>\nSt. Louis<\/td>\n304<\/td>\n531<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fla.<\/td>\nMiami-Dade County<\/td>\nMiami<\/td>\n301<\/td>\n500<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N.C.<\/td>\nMecklenburg County<\/td>\nCharlotte<\/td>\n273<\/td>\n354<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N.Y.<\/td>\nNew York County<\/td>\nNew York City<\/td>\n262<\/td>\n261<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Minn.<\/td>\nHennepin County<\/td>\nMinneapolis<\/td>\n211<\/td>\n197<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Utah<\/td>\nSalt Lake County<\/td>\nSalt Lake City<\/td>\n207<\/td>\n217<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N.H.<\/td>\nHillsborough County<\/td>\nManchester and Nashua<\/td>\n186<\/td>\n218<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wash.<\/td>\nKing County<\/td>\nSeattle<\/td>\n167<\/td>\n256<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N.D.<\/td>\nCass County<\/td>\nFargo<\/td>\n157<\/td>\n236<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maine<\/td>\nCumberland County<\/td>\nPortland<\/td>\n139<\/td>\n132<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Va.<\/td>\nFairfax County<\/td>\nWashington DC suburbs<\/td>\n118<\/td>\n448<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Md.<\/td>\nMontgomery County<\/td>\nWashington DC suburbs<\/td>\n117<\/td>\n354<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N.J.<\/td>\nBergen County<\/td>\nHackensack<\/td>\n92<\/td>\n229<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mass.<\/td>\nMiddlesex County<\/td>\nBoston<\/td>\n81<\/td>\n132<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

With many large cities currently making criminal justice reform a priority – and with the highest rates of incarceration now in small cities and towns<\/a> – you might expect large cities to be less punitive than the states they belong to. But 14 counties I evaluated (such as Philadelphia County and Los Angeles County) still have disproportionately high prison incarceration rates compared to the rest of their states. And only 13 of the counties I evaluated had incarceration rates significantly (that is, more than 10%) lower than the states they belong to.<\/p>\n

<\/span>You might also wonder: How does my city compare to other cities<\/i> on incarceration? For the most part, cities in famously punitive states tend to be punitive compared to other cities. But there are some notable exceptions. For instance, while Missouri and Florida have some of the highest state rates of incarceration<\/a>, St. Louis County and Miami-Dade County not only have lower rates than their states do; they have lower rates than most other urban areas nationwide<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Likewise, a few states that have relatively low incarceration rates should note that their major cities tell a wildly different story. Colorado, Michigan and Iowa have lower incarceration rates than many states, but the counties containing their major cities – Denver, Detroit and Des Moines, respectively – have some of the highest incarceration rates of all the urban areas I evaluated. These counties send disproportionately high numbers of people to prison.<\/p>\n

So why do most of these counties differ significantly from the states they’re located in when it comes to incarceration? Clearly, local incarceration rates are impacted by much more than sentencing laws and other factors determined at the state level.<\/p>\n

To state the obvious, cities and towns vary widely in their levels of poverty and in the quality of their social services (such as education, drug treatment and health care), both of which impact crime. But other factors matter too. Police departments and prosecutors differ in how aggressively they target crime, especially low-level crime. Cities and towns that invest in diversion programs for veterans, people with mental illness, and people with a substance use disorder may send fewer people to prison<\/a> than areas without the same community services. The same is true for states with well-funded public defenders’ offices. And the availability of reentry services (like affordable housing), as well as the punitiveness of the community<\/a>, affects the likelihood that a city’s formerly incarcerated people will be sent back to prison.<\/p>\n

Given the wide variation among cities and towns, it’s clear that incarceration rates are just the beginning of any local analysis. If you’re curious to learn more about your city or state, check out Vera’s database<\/a>, our extensive Research Library<\/a>, and our state profiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An index of the incarceration rates of the most populous counties in 39 states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"coauthors":[33],"class_list":["post-8499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8499"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15908,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8499\/revisions\/15908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8499"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}