The American penal system has the largest prison population in the world. That could be saying something about the way law enforcement and the criminal justice system works in the US.
But to get the big picture of the composition of prison populations, the Prison Policy Initiate has collated data and presented them here.
Why does the US have the largest prison population? Who usually gets locked up in jail and why? You may be able to find the answers to these questions when you connect the dots and analyze the data.
(Image credit: Prison Policy Initiative)