Posted on 02/29/2008 5:13:51 AM PST by Carbonsteel
NEW YORK — More than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison — making the United States the world's incarceration leader, according to a new report tracking the surge in U.S. inmate population.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, urged U.S. states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.
"The United States imprisons more people than any country in the world," the report said. Using updated state-by-state data, it said more than 2.3 million adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — or one of every 99.1 adults out of a total population of some 230 million adults.
The numbers put the United States far ahead of more populous China, which it said has 1.5 million people behind bars, and Russia, which has 890,000. The Pew report cited January statistics from the "World Prison Brief" released by the International Center for Prison Studies at London's King's College.
It also said the U.S. — with 750 inmates per 100,000 people — "is the global leader in the rate at which it incarcerates its citizenry, outpacing nations like South Africa and Iran."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sure. Dead people are no longer considered "incarcerated".
In most cases, you don’t get sent to prison for selling a few grams on the 1st offense. Those locked up for that have already been through the WOD system maybe a half dozen times before the judge got tired of looking at them.
No smoking, seatbelt laws, helmets on tots, yada, yada, yada.
Seems that some people have nothing better to do than find ways to discourage the rights of others. We call ‘em Nanny Laws.
Of course, there are people too stupid for common sense, but IMHO, those are the ones creating new laws.
There is one fewer than there should be.
And we dont hang them as fast as we used to.
We wouldn’t nearly have the repeat offenders if we hung more of them.
“Begs the question: Why do do many people in such a wealthy country decide to break the law?”
Consequences of a failed welfare state and a popular culture that glorifies thugs and promotes unrealistic expectations of easy money?
“It made my heart ache, you know, to see all these beautiful black men in the joint. The warriors should be out there helping the masses. I felt that way, I was real naive. Six weeks I was up there and I talked to the brothers. I talked to ‘em, and ... thank God we got penitentiaries!” - Richard Pryor
In drug sane states it's true.
Here in Penn State, I knew several students sentenced to months for selling around 3 grams of weed. Many brilliant Engineering students that didn't realize how much sh** they could get into.
Over here, you must either do time for selling or rat somebody out.
An old buddy of mine was set-up by a "girlfriend" in this town. He sold her some of his Rx painkillers and she was an informant. The guy was highly regarded in the Business school and already had a job lined up for 200k after graduation.
He never sold anything before but the mandatory minimum was something like a year.
The whole thing ruined his life and he killed himself last year. A victim of the drug war that turns friends into "informants".
Amen!
that was funny—thanks! (I’ve had a rotten day)
What ever happened to "Honor Among Thieves?"
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