As of June 2020, the United States had 2.2 million incarcerated people. Close to half of these individuals were people who were accused of crimes and being held pre-trial since they could not afford bail, people who were arrested for an inability to pay fines or debts, and people who were convicted of non-violent drug offenses. The US has the highest rate of incarceration of any country, despite the fact that crime rates in the country have been decreasing since the 1990s.
Minorities and people living in poverty have been disproportionately affected by policy changes that require longer sentences for drug crimes and other minor offenses. Around 25 percent of all incarcerated people in the United States cannot afford to pay bail. Most of these individuals are being held for low-level drug or property crimes, so the requirement that they must pay bail to be released affects people of moderate means.
Further, there are many criminal violations tied to homelessness, such bans on sitting in public or sleeping in a vehicle. People who are homeless are 11 times more likely to be incarcerated than people who are not homeless. To make matters worse, once incarcerated, people are 10 times more likely to become homeless following their release. This perpetuates a cycle where people are legally punished for living in poverty, and their chances of escaping that situation decreases each time they are arrested.
