Surprising Facts about our
Criminal Justice System
The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world.
ACLU
The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population but more than 20% of the world’s prison population (ACLU, 2015)
Utah is better than most states but still incarcerates more people per capita than countries like Russia, China, Iraq, and Iran (Prison Policy Initiative, 2024)
Utah’s prison population costs taxpayers approximately $250 million a year.
Nolan Center for Justice
The cost to house one inmate is $153 a day, which is roughly $55,900 a year (Utah Department of Corrections, 2024)
For AP&P to supervise the same inmate is less than $15 a day, which is less than $5,500 a year (Utah Department of Corrections, 2022)
This makes it 10 times less expensive to supervise an offender on probation or parole than to incarcerate them.
Utah’s total jail population has increased 1,355% since 1970.
Vera Institute
In Utah, 3 out of 4 people being held in jail have not been convicted of any crime. Although presumed innocent, these jail inmates are held in custody while they await trial (Salt Lake County Jail Dashboard, 2022)
The national number is similar, and includes those that can’t afford bail (Prison Policy Initiative, 2022)
Utah’s population has only increased about 223% since 1970.
The Utah Master Offense Table
The Utah Master Offense table lists 14,261 sections or subsections of code that can result in criminal charges. That number has increased by over a thousand since 2021.
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1st Degree: 47
2nd Degree: 224
3rd Degree: 440
Total: 711
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Class A: 472
Class B: 801
Class C: 125
Total: 1,398
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Total: 301