US prison population up eight-fold since 1970

canada's conservative government (they used to be called "progressive-conservative" , but gave themselves a new label) has also decide that building more prisons would be good for canada's construction industry and are in the process of of introducing much tougher crime legislation .
and once the prisons have been built they must be filled - makes sense , doesn't it ? no use having them sitting empty !
probably checking with BIG BROTHER on the SOUTHERN BORDER .
one crime that is particularlly on the increase : HANDGUNS BEING SMUGGLED IN FROM OUR SOUTHERN NEIGHBOUR !
gun dealers have found out that handguns command a much higher price on the "underground" market in canada than in the U.S. - they are fast learners !
hbg

Thew media reported again on America's prison population (1 in 100 adult Americans are in prison.

What you make of it is up to you.

While there is no doubt about the incapacitation effect of locking up so many people, the US system doesn't seem to be successful at preventing reoffending, and thus by implication, at deterrence.

I just heard 1 in 100 too. A large majority are black and non-violent. The biggest difference in incarceration rates is between white and black women (if I remember right).

Maybe that's what's keeping our unemployment rates so falsely low.