“From the mid-1970s to the mid-’80s, America’s incarceration rate doubled. From the mid-’80s to the mid-’90s, it doubled again. Then it went still higher.” And a lot of those being incarcerated have one thing in common. Consider this stat: “One in four black men born since the late 1970s has spent time in prison.” In a sweeping Atlantic piece, Ta-Nehisi Coates tracks the history of The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration.

+ While were on the topic of crime-related stats, here’s another one: Between 1776 and today, there have been a total of 656,397 U.S. military personnel killed in battle. Between 1989 and 2014, there have been 836,290 gun related deaths in the United States.