Data Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016 data analyzed by the Prison Policy Initiative. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2022)

This graph originally appeared in Beyond the count: A deep dive into state prison populations.

A shocking 38% of people in state prisons in 2016 were first arrested before their 16th birthdays. View an alternate version of this chart for people first arrested at 15 or younger here.