the fact that half of a state’s prison population is comprised of people who are labeled violent offenders does not mean that half of the people sentenced to prison in that state have been convicted of violent crimes. This may seem counterintuitive at first, but if you pause to consider how the system actually operates this fact becomes obvious. People who are convicted of violent crimes tend to get longer prison sentences than those who commit nonviolent offenses. As a result, people who are classified as violent offenders comprise a much larger share of the prison population than they would
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