“””both crime and military service in America are voluntary”””
Very astute. Also disappointing that voluntary military service is not as popular as crime. I suppose we could subtract the aged prison population. Then it gets to be a real statistical nightmare - calculating re-enlistment, recivitism, or, maybe it’s a wash.
Thanks for your response.
It’s a blessed country that can sustain itself without a huge standing army and the citizens aren’t pressed by central government or strained by chaos and foreign threats to take up arms. Likewise, less volunteers for service speaks volumes concerning the opportunities of our economy over enlisting as a last resort just to get a paycheck, and “3 hots and a cot”.
Most of the rest of the world is blessed to do the same because of America’s nature. For example, Europeans don’t have to have a huge expensive army and neither do some of our Asian allies. Even militant anti-Americans can relax their guard on foreign intervention because bellicose militants are more likely to see their own people as the number one threat. If other nations still have huge conscriptions, it’s usually because military service is a way of enslaving the will of the nation (Burma, North Korea, Venezuela, etc). Otherwise, it’s because there’s a very real and dangerous external enemy and influence wanting to kill the country. As for competitive neighbors, we Americans are more likely to face the embarrasment of a Canadian baseball team taking away our trophies or Mexicans and other Hispanics out-hustling us in blue collar jobs that most US Citizens don't want anyway.
Like you, I’m also interested in the types of crimes and the time they’ve got to serve (ie, how many life sentences vs. those who’ll actually get out). The important mission is to have a change of heart rather than merely paying a debt to Justice. Prison ministry is a high calling (and a corporal work of mercy).