Prison population

It could be either positive or negative - you need to delve deeper. If it is because we catch and prosecute more criminals then it would be a positive thing. For instance if China has lots more criminals, they simply are not good about catching them and sending them away, they which is better? Or perhaps another country believes in killing these criminals for things as simple as stealing - so less prisoners is this better?

You also need to look at per capita. So what if Sweden has less prisoners, they have a smaller population - you would expect that?

If Sweden had a high crime rate and caught as many criminals as we do then her per capita would be as high as ours. But no one has as high as per capita as America.

We may be better at catching them vs, say Columbia or Russia maybe, but we, as an industrial nation, seem to have a crime rate far higher crime rate than other developed nations.

So what's our problem?

Too many toys available?

Too many poor people?

Too large a disparity between rich and poor?

I'm not disputing that there are issues, what I am disputing is you cannot take one simple stat and ask what is wrong.

I did, however, miss the per capita part.

The other question I have is having a high prison population a problem? You need to answer that and consider all the details - do we have more crime/criminals or is it we catch more and imprison them longer? Is that a problem in itself to imprison them longer?

Do we put less criminals to death? Is that good or bad?

I'm not saying I have the answers to these types of questions - what I am saying is you need the answers to these to determine whether there is a true issue with having a higher prison population.

Is having a high prison population a problem? I would think so if you compare us to the rest of the industrial world. If we have a higher per capita prison population than I assume we have a lot more crime.

So the question is why do we have more crime than the other industrial nations.

That is a very interesting question, since only 68 states worlwide have death penalty and even less are actually executing prisoners.

When you compare the prison population, you of course should put into context why people are there.


However, a prison population (per capita) gives a picture of that country's society, whatever the reasons for the imprisoment might be.

There are other issues to consider. How many of these prisoners are low level drug dealers, who probably should not be in jail at all? Our country is so obsessed with this so-called "war on drugs" that there are plenty of people who probably should not be in prison at all.

Another thing, that might be interesting to ponder. Does a free society give people more opportunity to break the law? I am thinking of Iraq, under Saddam. Of course I am glad that he is no longer in power. He was a butcher and a sadist. But you have to give him credit for keeping the various factions in line. Now they are out for each others' throats.

More generally spoken, it's a matter of criminal justice policy, which is indeed quite different in the USA to most other countries.

I want to add to what Phoenix mentioned that under American law the long sentences mandated for e.g. thieves (and drug possession); leaving prison at half term or two-third is done elsewhere a lot more often than in the USA > rehabilitation isn't a big issue in the USA, one might think.

The above points out the difficulty of evaluating on just one issue - prison population. Walter points out longer sentences for certain crimes - one could consider this good or bad.

Phoenix also points this out as well as the possibility this is a side effect of a free society.

By simply pointing to number of prisoners it is oversimplifying a situation.

Well, but it exactly points to that situation :wink:

Good point. Our War on Drugs is about as successful as Bush's War on Terrorism. The WoD has parallels to our Military-Industrial Complex. The more money you pour into it the more those involved want. Meanwhile Bush's "successful" invasion of Afghanistan has now made that country into the leading heroin exporter.

The WoD is an unwinnable battle.


Well I don't think we can look at Europe and say they have less freedom than America. On the contrary, in some cases I think they have more freedom, which may be one reason there's less crime.

My daughter was in Amsterdam one New Years Eve. She told me of the brothels in the city and live sex shows. On NYE the streets were cluttered with the remains of Chinese firecrackers.

See what happens to you if you run a brothel in Washington DC.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,256221,00.html

And it's illegal to set off firecrackers in the city.
http://www.fireworks.com/fireworks_laws/laws_dc.asp

Perhaps only a local news, but it shows a bit of the situation, I think:

Man freed after 17-year imprisonment for smoking marijuana

IMHO Judge Keith Dean should be horse whipped at sunrise.................