[CholeraJoe]

Between 2.3m and 2.4m Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults.

That's because we have a Constitution. My daughter spent 6 weeks studying in Russia earlier in the summer. She personally witnessed petty criminals like purse snatchers, pickpockets, and shoplifters being beaten senseless by Police officers, then left bleeding and lying on the street. It reminds me of training puppies. Once you smack them with a newspaper a couple of times, they learn.

Rather than being aghast, she suggested that we could reduce crime in the US by adopting a similar strategy.

[Vigilanteman]

An Indonesian buddy of mine said they did something similar in his home country. but far more effective. The local police would go through the dossiers of career criminals in their jurisdiction and pick out those most likely to commit horrific crimes. They would then mysteriously vanish, only to turn up later dead (if they were lucky) for a variety of causes.

I do not advocate the same sort of thing in the United States. I'm just pointing out that it is the natural progression of things when authorities are allowed to selectively enforce the law.