Why does America put so many people in prison?

[Furrowed Brow]

It is oft said America has 5% of the world population but has 25% of the world's prison population. Why does America imprison more of its population than anywhere else? Here is a comparative chart from wiki. It is a little out of date but the trend is still true today.

[center][/center]
Are Americans more tolerant of imprisonment as a punishment because of a religious ethic that demands retribution, or do America have more criminals because of a lack of religion? Is this a sign of social collapse? Is this a result in the collapse of family values? Has this anything to do with a privatised prison industry lobbying for more punitive sentencing? Is it because of the war on drugs? Is this due to social inequality? Is it down to racism? Is this just down to more people in America making more bad choices than elsewhere? Or is this down to effective policing? Is the American legal system unjust or just highly efficient? Is the graph a sign that America is doing things right and its the rest of the world that is not up to speed? Why is America able and willing to imprison more people?

[Darias]

It is oft said America has 5% of the world population but has 25% of the world's prison population. Why does America imprison more of its population than anywhere else? Here is a comparative chart from wiki. It is a little out of date but the trend is still true today.

[center][/center]
Are Americans more tolerant of imprisonment as a punishment because of a religious ethic that demands retribution, or do America have more criminals because of a lack of religion? Is this a sign of social collapse? Is this a result in the collapse of family values? Has this anything to do with a privatised prison industry lobbying for more punitive sentencing? Is it because of the war on drugs? Is this due to social inequality? Is it down to racism? Is this just down to more people in America making more bad choices than elsewhere? Or is this down to effective policing? Is the American legal system unjust or just highly efficient? Is the graph a sign that America is doing things right and its the rest of the world that is not up to speed? Why is America able and willing to imprison more people?

[Strider324]

It is oft said America has 5% of the world population but has 25% of the world's prison population. Why does America imprison more of its population than anywhere else? Here is a comparative chart from wiki. It is a little out of date but the trend is still true today.

[center][/center]
Are Americans more tolerant of imprisonment as a punishment because of a religious ethic that demands retribution, or do America have more criminals because of a lack of religion? Is this a sign of social collapse? Is this a result in the collapse of family values? Has this anything to do with a privatised prison industry lobbying for more punitive sentencing? Is it because of the war on drugs? Is this due to social inequality? Is it down to racism? Is this just down to more people in America making more bad choices than elsewhere? Or is this down to effective policing? Is the American legal system unjust or just highly efficient? Is the graph a sign that America is doing things right and its the rest of the world that is not up to speed? Why is America able and willing to imprison more people?

Well, it can't be due to a lack of religion, as over 80% of Americans still claim to be christians. Maybe there's something about christians that make them prone to become criminals?

Methinks you just need to follow the money, as with most commercial enterprises...

[Artur Axmann]

[Replying to post 1 by Furrowed Brow]

Could it possibly be that America has quite a few criminals ?

And where else would you suggest they be placed?

[Furrowed Brow]

[Replying to post 1 by Furrowed Brow]

Could it possibly be that America has quite a few criminals ?

And where else would you suggest they be placed?

You fail to address the question. Which might itself be revealing. Is America failing to ask themselves the question why so many criminals? From outside of America looking in the size of the American prison population looks to be a problem and hints at all sorts of structural problems and an unbalanced society, but maybe American's don't see it as a problem?

[Strider324]

[Replying to post 1 by Furrowed Brow]

Could it possibly be that America has quite a few criminals ?

And where else would you suggest they be placed?

You fail to address the question. Which might itself be revealing. Is America failing to ask themselves the question why so many criminals? From outside of America looking in the size of the American prison population looks to be a problem and hints at all sorts of structural problems and an unbalanced society, but maybe American's don't see it as a problem?

Here's but one example of what happens when American conservatives demonize drug use..... all while happily sipping on their 4th or 5th Mojito.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/2 ... _hp_ref=tw

This kid could serve LIFE IN PRISON for making hash brownies. Think about that....

And now, these same conservatives are lamenting the fact that a number of inmates were recently released - including some violent criminals - due to .....wait for it.... overcrowding.

Wow - couldn't see THAT one coming.....


Further, our Federal prison system very much likes the idea of jailing people for victimless crimes - with over 50% of our inmates 'guilty' of drug crimes, and another 35% guilty of what are called public-order crimes. These include such heinous activities as.....

- selling lemonade without a permit
- dancing in public
- feeding the homeless without a license

You can't make this stuff up.


http://www.libertariannews.org/2011/09/ ... opulation/

So, to answer your question, yes, it's easy to be the worlds leading jailer when you make everything a crime.

[Artur Axmann]

[Replying to post 4 by Furrowed Brow]

"why so many criminals?" you ask..

Genetics... why so many drug users ,why so many pyromaniacs ,why so many who fail to graduate?

I learned many many years ago not to argue with the laws of nature.

[Furrowed Brow]

So, to answer your question, yes, it's easy to be the worlds leading jailer when you make everything a crime.

I'd like to drill into that. Why the urge to legislate so heavily. Who benefits? Is America actually a nicer safer place as a result? After spending all that money on prison facilities does America get better results in terms of quality of life of those who manage to stay our of prison? I suspect America put more people in prison because a. there is profit in it and b. a large part of the population don't seem to care. And I wonder if the root of that not caring about the size of the prison population is an ethic formed by religious attitudes that hankers to punish people that do not behave the same and do not meet with a narrow world view. Is a greater willingness to punish deviancy from conventional norms the root of a lack of concern? A root that traces back to religion? Maybe....? Also wonder if this is just a sign of authoritarianism as China, Russia and Cuba are also near the top of the list.

[Furrowed Brow]

[Replying to post 4 by Furrowed Brow]

"why so many criminals?" you ask..

Genetics... why so many drug users ,why so many pyromaniacs ,why so many who fail to graduate?

I learned many years ago not to argue with the laws of nature.

So America is genetically predisposed to more crime than the rest of the world. Hmm. But if that were true why is Australia which was treated as a penal colony by Britain and where we exported large numbers of our criminals not top of the list. Singapore once received large numbers of Indian convicts why are they not near the top. If genetics plays a role then countries that were penal colonies presumable also had an injection of criminal genetics into the population that would tell in the prison populations today.

Have to say "genetics" as an answer looks to be a way of avoiding the issue. I think Strider has a point. If you lower the bar and make more things crimes and hand out longer sentences then your prison population is going to rise. That bit is just math. But why a low bar and tough sentences is sociology....not genetics.

[DanieltheDragon]

[Replying to post 6 by Artur Axmann]

I beg to differ Australia which essentially was started as a giant prison population does not have the same crime rate. If genetics is at all the issue here I would expect to see a much larger crime rate in Australia than in the states.

Could policy have anything to do with it?

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner. People get thrown into jail for every reason under the sun.

Forget to renew your drivers license and it expires? If you get pulled over that is a year in prison.

Don't show up to school that is prison time in texas.

3 strike policies often can put non-violent criminals behind bars for life in relatively minor infractions.

Do some research buddy the system is a mess.