In 2005, the FBI estimated that 14,094,186 arrests occurred nationwide for all offenses (except traffic violations), of which 603,503 were for violent crimes, and 1,609,327 for property crimes.  

There are over 11,000,000 adult men and women in the nation's criminal justice system.

An estimated 2,254,896 people in U.S. prisons and jails, over 4.9 million adult men and women were under Federal, State, or local probation or parole jurisdiction; approximately 4,162,500 on probation and 784,400 on parole.

In 2006, there were 17,602 alcohol-related accidents nationwide; 13,470 involved motorists with blood alcohol content of more than .08 percent. In 2005, there were 17,590 alcohol-related crashes in the country; 13,582 had one or more motorists with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more. 

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According to the Report of the Re-entry Policy Council: Charting the Safe and Successful Return of Prisoners to the Community, two million Americans are serving time in prison. Ninety-seven percent (97%) of those people will be released at some point. About two out of every three people released from prison in the U.S. are re-arrested within three years of their release.

The report found that spending on corrections has been the fastest or second-fastest growing item in state budgets over the last 15 years, from $9 billion a year in 1982 to $60 billion in 2002. The recidivism rate has not improved over the past 30 years, according to the report.

According to the council, nearly 650,000 people in the U.S. are released from prison each year, and over 7 million are released from jails. The report found that three out of four jail inmates have a substance abuse problem, but only 10 percent in state prisons and three percent in local jails receive formal treatment prior to release.

Among prisoners with serious mental disorders, over 70 percent also have a substance abuse problem.

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State of California

The State of California's prison system is the second-biggest in the United States, after the federal prison system, and has the country's worst overcrowding problem. Some prisons are at more than 200 percent of their planned capacity.

California’s 174,000 prison population lives in 33 institutions designed for 100,000, and overcrowding has forced more than 17,000 inmates into gymnasium and classroom housing, a dangerous alternative that puts both offenders and guards in danger. CDCR estimates it needs 50,000 new state prison beds over the next 15 years.

California has 127,000 parolees under supervision by the state. Over 75% of these parolees find themselves back in prison within a year, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation statistics.

The 'California Institution for Men' houses more than twice the number of inmates it was designed for, with about 1,400 of them living in areas that were designed other purposes. For example, more than 200 inmates are triple-bunked in a gymnasium. With that kind of crowding, it's little wonder there were 57 inmate assaults against CIM's correctional staff in 2006. In 2005, CIM Officer Manuel Gonzalez was stabbed to death on the job. 

Numerous studies show that despite an annual cost of $36 million, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s in-prison substance abuse treatment programs have little or no impact on recidivism. Moreover, the department has had this information for years, but has failed to correct deficiencies identified by the studies and instead continues to open new programs.

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After the "Three Strikes and You're Out" law’s first decade, one out of every four people in California’s $5.7-billion prison system is a three-striker. Those 42,000 prisoners are more than the entire prison populations of 42 states.

Support FACTS: "Families To Amend California's Three Strikes Law"

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In 2005, an estimated 19.7 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users, meaning they had used an illicit drug during the month prior to the survey interview. This estimate represents 8.1 percent of the population aged 12 years old or older. 

Overall, in 2006, 22.6 million people -- 9.2 percent of Americans ages 12 and up -- either abused or were addicted to drugs or alcohol in the prior year, according to estimates in the report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

That is up slightly from an estimated 22.2 million people, or 9.1 percent of the population, in last year's report.

The 2006 report found that non-medical use of prescription drugs, mostly pain relievers, among young adults increased from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 6.4 percent in 2006. 

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Three out of every four convicted jail inmates were alcohol or drugs-involved at the time of their current offense.   

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There are 4,300 women in prison in England and Wales spread across 17 women's jails. The Prison Reform Trust said 40% of women prisoners have attempted suicide at some time. A drugs worker said about 70% of the women who come there are drug addicts.

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Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2005 survey (51.8 percent). This translates to an estimated 126 million people, which is higher than the 2004 estimate of 121 million people (50.3 percent). 

Forty-Nine percent (49%) of U.S. students binge drink according to a recent report issued by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

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Alcoholism and drug abuse are silent epidemics in the senior population: 17 percent of Americans age 60 and older have serious problems with alcohol and drugs, reports the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Nearly one-quarter of Medicare hospital payments are for substance abuse cases, reports the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

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One in four Americans has a family member who is struggling with addiction. In 2005, there were 23.2 million Americans who needed treatment for their illicit drug or alcohol abuse problems, yet only about 10% received the treatment they needed. The National Institute on Drug Addiction -NIDA.

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42.5% of twelfth graders surveyed reported that coke was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain. (National Institute on Drug Abuse and University of Michigan, 2006 Monitoring the Future Study, December 2006)

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In 2002, 1 in 12 murders involved a juvenile offender. 

Juvenile offenders were involved in an estimated 1,300 murders in the U.S. in 2002—8% of all murders.

In 2002, about four juveniles were murdered every day in the U.S.

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The Pew Charitable Trusts predicts that the U.S. prison population -- which grew 700 percent over the last quarter century, and already tops any country on the planet, at any period in history -- will increase another 13 percent over the next five years, costing states an additional $27.5 billion.

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The National Institute of Justice reports that, after one year of release, up to 60 percent of former inmates are jobless.

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HBO's ADDICTION television project states: Millions of Americans are in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, yet one in four Americans still has a family member who is struggling with addiction. Of these 22 million people who still need help, only 9% are receiving the help they need to recover and
get their lives back on track.

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that approximately 4.7 million people currently misuse prescription pain relievers, second only to marijuana use.

"I'm sure I spent $10 million (GBP 5.1 million), but it could have been 15 (GBP 7.7 million)." Rock star DAVID CROSBY, on the money he fears he has spent on drugs.

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Annual sales of illicit drugs worldwide total $300 billion to $500 billion per year, Jerry Gjesvold, manager of employer services for Serenity Lane Health Services, told members of the Albany Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce - March 2007.

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About 16 percent of adults in the United States will experience depression at some point in their lives. It's a disease with potentially deadly implications. A suicide attempt is made about once a minute in the U.S.

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A study prepared by The Lewin Group for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimated the total economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse in the United States at $245.7 billion. This cost estimate represented a 50% increase over the cost estimate from 1985 data. While the Lewins Group attentive to the financial cost of addiction, how can we assess the terrible immeasurable cost of a generation’s lost potential as adolescents in growing numbers are trapped by the scourge of substance abuse?

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Almost 54 percent of all adolescents and young adults ages 12 to 20 have drank an alcoholic beverage at least once in their lifetime and underage drinkers consume an estimated 11.2 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States, according to the latest statistics released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

Data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) in 2006 indicate that 53.9 percent of all people age 12 to 20 have had at least one drink. Adolescents who reported drinking in the past month tend to consume more alcohol per occasion than drinkers over the legal drinking age of 21, the report said.

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Population of the United States - 303,873,679 - (4/08)

Population of the World 6,661,884,833 - (4/08)

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[ Federal Inmate Population (over 200,000) - updated weekly ]

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