it is comprised of a majority of the relevant and recent material available for review.
According to Michael Tonry (1994), professor of law and public policy at the University of Minnesota, "the best known characteristics of America's correctional system are that capital punishment continues in use and that American incarceration rates are four to 15 times higher than those in other developed countries." Indeed, in 1990-1991, according to statistics provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States incarcerated 455 individuals per 100,000 population. This compares with 311 in South Africa, 111 in Canada, 79 in Australia, 71 in Denmark, 44 in Sweden, and 42 in Japan (Jefferson, 1994).
Most disturbing, according to Tonry's findings (1994, p. 97), is the disproportionate numbers of ethnic minorities represented in the inmate populations of American prisons and jail. Pointing out that prisons hold individuals sentenced to confinement for periods exceeding one year, and that jails hold pre-trial detainees and convicted offenders sente
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