Prison Stats -- Crime Down, People Behind Bars Are Up

The latest prison stats are out and while convictions of violent crimes continue to fall, the prison population continues to rise. Among the most disheartening figures: almost 1 in 10 of all black men between the ages of 25-29 are in jail right now. 44 percent of all state and federal prisoners are black.

I'm no bleeding heart liberal when it comes to crime and I hold each individual responsible for their actions. (The vast majority of people who are desperately poor DON'T commit crimes.) Society has clearly failed when an entire class of people are so bedeviled by helplessness and despair and a culture of violence.

USA Today breaks it down by state. The clear winner? Texas, of course, with 162,000 behind bars. And it's not just because they've got so many people. Texas matched Louisiana, Alabama and Oklahoma for the highest rate of incarceration by population.

According to the Washington DC-based Sentencing Project, half of all prisoners are serving time for non-violent offenses.