The bar chart compares the incarceration rates in five different countries: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Canada for over a 50 year period, commencing from 1930 to 1980.
Overall, it can be seen that imprisonment figures fluctuated throughout the period, with the highest number recorded for the United States, while Great Britain had the smallest proportion, until a substantial rise in 1980.
A closer examination reveals that, in 1930, approximately 120,000 individuals were imprisoned in Canada, followed by New Zealand and the US, with around 100,000, securing the second highest number of those who had been imprisoned. Conversely, Great Britain had fewer than 30,000 inmates, the lowest among the five nations, while the figure recorded for Australia was near 70,000. A decade later, the US rocketed to about 130,000 prisoners, whereas the remaining countries experienced downward tendencies. The pattern for the following decade remained the same, although the figure recorded for the USA overtook the number of inmates in Canada.
Between 1960 and 1970, the figures fluctuated slightly, with imprisonment levels in Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand moved upward, reaching nearly 65,000, while for two other nations the number reduced marginally. With regards to Great Britain, its prison population rose dramatically to nearly 80,000, surpassing both Australia and New Zealand in 1980. New Zealand eventually ranked the lowest in terms of incarceration rates, meanwhile the figures for the remaining nations converged to around 85,000. The US upsurged considerably to just under 130,000, maintaining the highest imprisonment rate.