Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: U.S. Paints Bleak Picture of Jails > WASHINGTON (AP) -- Almost half the female inmates and 13 > percent of jailed men have been abused sexually or > physically at least once in their lives, according to a > profile of the nation's local jail inmates released > Sunday. > > More than a quarter of the women -- 27 percent -- and 3 > percent of men said the abuse included rape. Large > numbers of the inmates grew up in single-parent homes, > were children of dissolute parents or spent at least > part of their childhood in homes on welfare or in public > housing. More than a third -- 36 percent -- said they > were unemployed before their most recent arrest. > > The study by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice > Statistics paints pictures of broken lives and gives > clues to why more than half a million people ran afoul > of local authorities last year. > > ``The tragedy is that people who have been victimized > often become victimizers themselves,'' said Eric E. > Sterling, president of the Washington-based Criminal > Justice Policy Foundation. ``It's a cycle we could > break, but it involves some expense. As a society, we > haven't put our resources there.'' > > Another expert, Raymond Bell of Pennsylvania's Lehigh > University, said the study probably understates the > frequency of inmates who have been abused. Bell, who has > directed two other national studies for the Justice > Department, said past studies have pointed to similar > findings. > > ``One of the things coming out in the juvenile courts is > more and more boys are reporting sexual abuse and incest > in ways that 10 years ago they weren't,'' Bell said. > ``It's just the tip of the iceberg.'' > > In the latest study, the bureau said 20 percent of > inmates were seeking work, 16 percent were not looking, > and ``almost half reported income of less than $600 a > month during the month before their arrest.'' > > Sterling said misbehaving children simply have fewer > opportunities for help in poor families. > > ``Poverty often means that kids in trouble are not able > to get therapy or counseling,'' he said. ``Not to blame > their parents, but there is a lack of resources and a > social indifference to the problems of poor kids. A kid > acting out in an underfunded school system is less > likely to see a school psychologist.'' > > By midyear 1997, 567,079 inmates were lodged in the > nation's 3,328 local jails, up 43 percent from 395,554 > in mid-1989. Unlike prisons, jails are run by local > governments. They hold convicts awaiting sentencing and > people serving sentences of a year or less. > > The report's findings were extrapolated from a survey of > more than 6,000 randomly selected inmates from 431 > jails. > > About 90 percent of the inmates were male, and 10 > percent were female. Thirty-seven percent were white, 41 > percent black, 19 percent Hispanic and 3 percent were > from other groups, including Asians, Pacific islanders > and American Indians. > > Those figures show minorities comprise a > disproportionate share of inmates. The Census Bureau > reports that blacks comprise 12.7 percent of the > nation's population, Hispanics 11 percent. The other > groups are less than 5 percent. > > About half the nation's inmates grew up in single-parent > homes, and 12 percent had lived in households without > either parent, the bureau said. Nearly one-third said > their parents or guardians abused alcohol and drugs. > > Almost half said a relative had spent time in jail or > prison, and close to 39 percent spent some part of their > childhood in households that had received welfare or > public housing assistance, bureau said. > > ``At the time of their arrest, one in five inmates was > receiving government assistance -- 14 percent on > welfare, 7 percent on Social Security or Supplemental > Security Income and 3 percent on unemployment, workers' > or veterans' compensation,'' it said. > > More than half of convicted jail inmates reported having > used illegal drugs in the month before their crimes, up > from the 44 percent estimated when the last such survey > was conducted in 1989, justice officials said. Sixty > percent were using drugs, alcohol or both at the time of > their offenses. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
