The task force's report, "Long Sentences by the Numbers," found that the portion of the state prison population serving a long sentence, which is defined as 10 years or more, increased from 45.8% in 2005 to 56.8% in 2019.
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The majority of long sentences are for violent offenses including murder, rape and sexual assault, according to the report. People are also serving long sentences for drug possession, distribution and trafficking, property crimes, and public order violations, such as weapons offenses and driving under the influence.
Task Force on Long Sentences director John Maki said in a statement on Wednesday that the report's findings give the task force foundational knowledge for potential recommendations for public safety. The task force is scheduled to release justice recommendations in December.
"For decades, long sentences have been a major part of our nation's response to serious and violent crime, but the myriad impacts of those sentences are not well understood," Maki said.
The Task Force on Long Sentences, co-chaired by King & Spalding LLP partner and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., was launched in April to analyze the impact of long prison sentences on public safety, people who are incarcerated and their families, crime victims, communities and corrections staff.
The report is the first from the 16-member task force and is based on data collected by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Corrections Reporting Program and 29 individual states. The states selected accounted for 50% to 75% of the U.S. population in 2019, according to the task force.
One impact of long sentences is that even though the number of people who are admitted to prison with long sentences has gone down over the past 10 years, the population of people who are serving long sentences has grown, a concept known as the "stacking effect," according to the report.
"The stacking effect occurs when people remain behind bars for long periods of time, causing a cumulative impact on the prison population even when annual admissions are small, remain stable, or decline," the report said.
The number of people admitted to state prisons with long sentences went down from more than 53,000 people in 2009 to about 47,000 people in 2019, according to the report. The percentage of the state prison population with long sentences was nearly 57%.
Meanwhile, the share of people admitted to state prisons with long sentences has increased slightly from 13.3% in 2005 to 17.3% in 2019, the report showed. In 2019, the majority of people admitted to state prisons were serving sentences ranging from 1 to 4.9 years.
Another key finding from the report is that the gap between the share of Black and white people admitted to prison with long sentences has grown, with a greater percentage of Black people serving long sentences than white people. The share of Black people admitted to state prisons with long sentences increased from 13.2% in 2005 to 19.2% in 2019, while the share of white people admitted to state prisons with long sentences increased from 12.2% in 2005 to 15% in 2019.
The report also found that the share of people aged 18 to 24 admitted to prison with long sentences has decreased, and the share of people aged 55 or older in prison with long sentences has increased. The share of people aged 18 to 24 admitted to prison with long sentences decreased from 27.3% in 2005 to 18.2% in 2019, while the share of people aged 55 or older in prison with long sentences increased from 7.9% in 2005 to 19% in 2019.
The share of people aged 55 or older in prison with long sentences more than doubled because of the stacking effect, according to the report.
The task force didn't study the underlying factors that contributed to a widened gap between the share of Black and white people admitted to state prisons with long sentences or the decrease in the share of people aged 18 to 24 admitted to state prisons with long sentences.
In addition, the report found that the average number of years served by people with long prison sentences increased 60% over time from 9.7 years in 2005 to 15.5 years in 2019.
"States vary widely in laws and policies that determine how much of a maximum prison sentence a person serves behind bars," the report said, noting that the factors which determine how many years a person serves in prison include the severity of the underlying offense, a prior criminal record and credits earned for good conduct while in prison.
--Editing by Nicole Bleier. Graphic by Jason Mallory.