Iowa is located in the Midwestern United States also known as the
"American Heartland." Iowa is also often known as the "Food Capital of
the World." Iowa consists of rolling hills and natural lakes scattered
all over the country.
Iowa's Incarceration Rate and Cost
An incarceration rate is how many people out of 100,000 go to prison
each month. Iowa has a pretty low incarceration rate compared to other
states. This is most likely caused by the lower population compared to
other states like California or Florida. Its rate is 292 people
incarcerated each month. Other states have incarceration rates at
around 300 or 400, or even past 600!
Each year in the Iowa Department of Corrections they house about nine
thousand inmates. Each inmate costs eighty-seven dollars each day
creating a yearly cost of $283,500,000 for all of the nine thousand
inmates.
DUI
Iowa has had many DUI accidents where the driver was above the legal
BAC of .08. There were almost 17,000 crashes in one year. From these
accidents there were 5,500 injuries and 122 deaths. From each death
that happens as a result of a DUI the average cost to pay for it is
$3.3 million dollars. $1.1 million is used for monetary losses and $2.2
million is used to pay quality of life losses.
Crime in Iowa
The least common crime in Iowa and most other states is murder. Murder
in Iowa has been at its lowest since 1962, and is at half of what it
was in 2008! The most common type of crime to commit in the state of
Iowa would be larceny theft. Larceny Theft is stealing something of
someone else with the intent to change and make it usable in the
person's own way. The number of this crime committed each year is
around fifty thousand and increases or decreases each year.
How Do You End Up in an Iowa County
Jail?
Normally one goes to a county jail because of charges of a misdemeanor.
One can also be sent to a county jail for a felony, but it is also
still possible for one to go to prison depending on the crime
committed. County jails usually house inmates who are there for a
short-term sentence, which is about a year or less. If you are serving
a long-term sentence of several years or life, you will be in a prison.
What you normally see on television and in the movies is typically
prison. There is much more violence because people have longer
sentences to carry out (they belive that they may do what they wish
because the know they will most likely never have a chance to get out
soon or ever).