Infographic: Spending for Higher Education vs. Prisons

This week I found an infographic that juxtaposed the state of California's budget for supporting prisons versus supporting students seeking a higher education. It demonstrates the injudiciousness of spending nearly seven times as much money per inmate as per student. This infographic comes from Fast Co Design company, a news industry based largely in images rather than words. Most articles are grounded in an infographic or artistic experiment, accompanied by a short article, in this case written by senior editor Suzanne Labarre. This infographic was originally found at publicadministration.net, an online resource for people looking to study public administration and the implementation of government policy. The statistics are well-supported by a list of sources below, although one statistic is said to be taken (and adjusted for infiltration) from 1979, so it may not be as credible as the others. The current economic recession is making finding jobs increasingly harder, and many students are graduating college with large debts and few opportunities. It seems counter intuitive that America is still focusing on the incarceration of nearly 1 in 100 Americans, largely for nonviolent crimes. The purpose of most infographics is to simply convey a large amount of data in a much shorter time than large bodies of text, and for that data to be presented in an interesting and relevant way to capture the audience's attention. This infographic, however, does not simply relay the data, but also gives a brief analysis at the bottom by saying, "We must re-prioritize our values as a society. Fund colleges, not prisons." The purpose is therefore to get the audience, mainly American tax-payers or students, educated on the issue and motivated enough by the injustice to actively seek change.
Infographics are known for their thoughtful design, which usually include charts, keys and symbols, color coordination, and a logical difference in the sizing of various pieces of data. Here, we see that the infographic has 2 main sections, one that ranks California amongst the other states for its prison funding and higher educational funding. The lower section demonstrates the negative outcomes that result from imprisoning such a large percentage of the population, almost like a cause and effect structure. This infographic uses color coordination by putting prison-related data in a yellow color, and graduate-related information in a more pleasing blue, and left other images dark to indicate the bleakness of the facts presented. Perhaps most obviously, places titles in very large font, numbers and statistics in the next largest font, and explanations in small fonts, so that audiences are drawn in by the most interesting parts immediately.
I have always thought that state governments spend too much money on keeping criminals locked up, especially for non-violent crimes, and that this money could be used for more constructive purposes, such as programs for ex-convicts to start their new lives. In the overcrowded prisons of California, this is especially true.  However, the thought of releasing too many of these convicts is also a scary thought, and this infographic does little to solve that problem. It merely points out a flaw in the spending of our government, and urges the audience to change the situation, without specifying how.