Study: Women account for nearly one in four arrests BY REBECCA CARROLL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Women made up seven percent of all inmates in state and federal prisons last year and ac counted for nearly one in four arrests, the government reported Sunday. Co-author of a Bureau of Justice Statistics report Paige Harrison linked an upswing in the rate of arrest for women to their increased participa tion in drug crimes, violent crimes and fraud. The number of women incarcer ated in state and federal prisons in 2004 was up four percent compared with 2003, more than double the 1.8 percent increase among men, the study said. In 1995, women made up 6.1 percent of all inmates in those facilities. “The number of incarcerated women has been growing ... due in large part to sentencing policies in the war in drugs,” The Sentencing Project, a group promoting alterna tives to prison, said in a statement. The group said the number of drug offenders in prisons and jails has risen from 40,000 in 1980 to more than 450,000 today. According to FBI figures, law officers in 2004 made more arrests for drug viola tions than for any other offense — about 1.7 million arrests, or 12.5 percent of all arrests. Those sentenced for drug offens es made up 55 percent of federal in mates in 2003, the report said. The total number of people incar cerated grew 1.9 percent in 2004 to 2,267,787 people. That figure in cludes federal and state prisoners, as well as 713,990 inmates held in local jails, 15,757 prisoners in U.S. territorial prisons, 9,788 in immigra tion and customs facilities, 2,177 in military facilities, 1,826 in Indian Country jails and 102,338 in juvenile facilities. The country’s state and federal prison population — 1,421,911, which excludes state and federal prisoners in local jails — grew 2.6 percent in 2004, compared with an average growth of 3.4 percent a year since 1995. Growth last year in federal prison populations was 5.5 percent, out pacing overall prisoner growth but slipping from the 7.4 average annu al growth in federal prison popula tions since 1995. The number of in mates in state prisons rose 1.8 percent, with about half that growth in Georgia, Florida and California. Harrison attributed some of the prison population rise to tougher sentencing policies implemented in the late 1990s. She said the average time served by prisoners today is seven months longer than it was in 1995. “You bring more people in, you keep them longer — inevitably you’re going to have growth,” she said. The Sentencing Project said the continued rise in prisoners despite falling crime rates raises questions about the country’s imprisonment system. The group said the incarcer ation rate — 724 per 100,000 — is 25 percent higher than that of any other nation. “Policy-makers would be wise to reconsider the wisdom of current sentencing and drug policies, both to avoid expensive incarceration costs and to invest in more produc tive prevention and treatment ap proaches to crime,” Marc Mauer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. Another group, The Justice Policy Institute in Washington, said the statistics show little relationship be tween prison population growth and the crime rate, which has been falling in recent years. “The nation does not have to lock more people up to have safer com munities,” said Jason Ziedenberg, the institute’s executive director. About 8.4 percent of the coun try’s black males between the ages of 25 and 29 are in state or federal prison, compared with 2.5 percent of Hispanic males and 1.2 percent of white males in the same age group, the report said. Blacks made up an estimated 41 percent of inmates with a sentence of more than one year, the report said. ADFC: Decision will be made Wednesday Continued from page 1 stop dodging around issues.” Brown suggested punishing stu dents who are removed from home games multiple times for “unclassy” behavior by revoking their privi leges to attend future home games. The Senate Rules Committee and ADFC Senators met Friday to begin addressing the issue. Steve McBride, associate director for Internal Operations in the Uni versity Athletics Department, said at the ADFC meeting that Athletics De partment officials are concerned, but there is one main problem: NOW SERVING CHET JEVON BAYOU BBQL FREE POOL TILL 10PM cm close sun & mqn) $7.00 CAD BOMBS $2.25 PABST $5.75 DOUBLE WELLS $5.50 LONG ISLANDS Tuesday $2.25 Sushi Polls KITCHEN HOURS 11:30 AM-2:00 AM SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Expanded brunch menu SAT-SUN Breakfast served all day! 99 WEST BQOADWAY 685-3154. “People are not as civil as they used to be. ” “Some of the people that we’re hearing from are just noticing that change and not liking it, and I don’t know what we can do about that because that’s a lot bigger than a football game or the city of Eugene. It’s society,” McBride said. McBride said alcohol fuels the problem, but said he and the Athlet ics Department have not figured out what to do about it. He said that some people come to games unrealistically expecting peo ple to always act properly, particular ly when they bring young children. “We’re dealing with a much broad er range of complaints than are really valid,” McBride said. “Let’s act like we’ve all been there before.” McBride suggested that students use peer pressure to discourage neg ative behavior in the stands. Several Senators said a final deci sion will be made Wednesday evening at the Student Senate meeting. The 11 ASPAC members will also brainstorm ideas to help eliminate the problem. Contact the campus and federal politics reporter at nwilbur@ daily emerald, com Doing a Minor ora Double Major? T\ Do it with Distinction hwr UO Professional Distinctions Learn more about this program by joining us on Tuesday, November 1st from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. in the Gumwood Room, EMU for our informational and advising conference. For full information visit our website https://uodistinctions.uoregon.edu phone 541-346-3902 e-mail uodistinctions@cas.uoregon.edu s A program by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Career Center O UNIVERSITY OF OREGON Students Fly Cheaper Fares from Eugene: Los Angeles $188 Denver $188 Dallas $253 Fares from Portland: Frankfurt $554 Rome $691 Rio de Janeiro $725 FREE f TICKETS Text “FLY” to 22122 It’s your chance to yylD one of ten pairs of roundtrlp tickets to London • StudentUniverse.com Terms All fares .ire bas*-1 on roiindtnp travel & tnc.i o« may hr «Si|piN«- t» f»artk»|wte if* aa n»jw*rta».l riinu-at rerrareh *1w(ty. Q&affcJ j***hnip*iM» isiatf W feetwe**