How many us citizens are convicted felons?

Answer 1

I'm not certain an exact figure is known or published. People would be too shocked to learn the actual number. About a year ago there were 2.5 million people locked up in US jails and prisons. We are the largest incarcerator in the world. No other nation is even close to housing the number of prisonsers we house. We are responsible for roughly 25% of the world's incarcerated population, yet our entire population is only 5% of the world total.

Let me try this another way, The state of Michigan has been tracking the number of convicted felons in the state since about 1920 by issuing a unique six-digit number to every convicted person. In 2003, that number reached 500,000. Within one year, it was at 700,000. By the end of 2005 it was nearing 900,000. Michigan rarely reissues numbers and typically only when a felon dies in custody does that number get reissued. So, the actual number of convicted felons in the state of Michigan is right around 900,000. Estimate up to the million person mark, as it is currently 2010 and the trend has only increased (a million is actually conservative), and the number of convicted persons in Michigan reaches slightly higher than 7%. Use that figure for the entire US and you get 2,450,000. I know, it doesn't work; that number is lower than the total number incarcerated in 2004. So what does that say? The number of Americans with felony convictions is much, much greater than 7%. Figure safely that it is around 15% to 25%.