USA Imprisons Most of Any Country

[Zipp0 1]

Overall and as a percentage of population, the USA has the most incarcerated people in the world. (now 1 in 100)

So, do we have more crooks than anyone else, or do we just put them in jail more effectively?

Is this high incarceration rate responsible for lowering crime?

If so, why did NY have a bigger drop in crime than FL, when FL puts more people in jail?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022801704.html?hpid=topnews

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Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[Butters 0]

Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders isn't helping ...

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[Amazon 7]

We have some of the best training grounds for criminals in the world.. you put them in for some low level drug crime and they come out hardened and ready to GO BIG.

[lawrocket 3]

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So, do we have more crooks than anyone else, or do we just put them in jail more effectively?

We have more laws to use to put people in jail than other countries.

How about that answer?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Overall and as a percentage of population, the USA has the most incarcerated people in the world. (now 1 in 100)

So, do we have more crooks than anyone else, or do we just put them in jail more effectively?

Is this high incarceration rate responsible for lowering crime?

If so, why did NY have a bigger drop in crime than FL, when FL puts more people in jail?

I think this subject defies simple metrics.

The US may imprison less people that China, but doesn't shoot any of them in the head. It also coddles criminals less than say England, but at the same time continues to jail too many drug users.

Florida's population has risen substantially in the past couple decades, which would account for some of the growth. As for comparing the deltas, if NY's crime was much higher to start with (which is likely true), then it's easier to improve.

[jakee 1,596]

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We have more laws to use to put people in jail than other countries.

How about that answer?

I don't know. Is it true?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[BIGUN 1,488]

If someone commits 10 crimes a year and they get locked up for two years, 20 crimes have been eliminated - hence, crime rate goes down.
That works for everything except drugs. That's a resilient market where incarcerating one drug offender results in opportunity for another - an exercise in futility and the crime rate does not go down.

Cut off the supply of drugs, the prison population will reduce.
Concurrently, make the drug penalties ten times more severe.
We don't have an incarceration problem; we have a drug problem.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[TheBachelor 5]

My .02: We also have such pourous borders that criminals from all over the world can come here pretty easily.

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[jakee 1,596]

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Cut off the supply of drugs, the prison population will reduce.
Concurrently, make the drug penalties ten times more severe.

Well, cutting off the drug supply and increasing penalties for drug convictions have been tried over and over again for pretty much the whole last century so yeah, lets try that again.

Or, legalise drugs, let above board, regulated companies take over distribution and then see what happens.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[kelpdiver 2]

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Cut off the supply of drugs, the prison population will reduce.
Concurrently, make the drug penalties ten times more severe.
We don't have an incarceration problem; we have a drug problem.

I think we don't have a drug problem, we have an uptight morality problem.

[kschilk 0]

Only two kinds of people, in the U.S.....criminals and the ones that the government eventually makes, into criminals. The moment you're born, you've already broken some bulls**t law or ordinance. The worst part is, the most hardened of criminals are allowed to run free...on Capitol Hill.

"T'was ever thus."

[freethefly 6]

From the DOJ

Average Federal Sentence
Offense Mean Median
All Offenses 56.8 months 33.0 months
All Felonies 58.0 months 36.0 months
Violent Felonies 63.0 months
Drug Felonies 75.6 months 55.0 months
Property Felony - Fraud 22.5 months 14.0 months
Property Felony - Other 33.4 months 18.0 months
Public Order Felony - Regulatory 28.0 months 15.0 months
Public Order Felony - Other 46.5 months 30.0 months
Misdemeanors 10.3 months 6.0 months

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[kelpdiver 2]

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From the DOJ

Average Federal Sentence
Drug Felonies 75.6 months 55.0 months

Misdemeanors 10.3 months 6.0 months

too bad they don't break down Drug felonies by possession or sales. No accident, of course.

The mean number for misdomeanors seems mathematically impossible, since max sentence is 12 months and more than half of them are 6 or less.

[BIGUN 1,488]

I waded around on the site for awhile trying to find it... Perhaps free could provide the link.
I did find one interesting one regarding the decline in major drug arrests - Table 4 (2006)

http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs25/25921/appendc.htm#TableC3

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[freethefly 6]

PDF file

http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=1000240&renderforprint=1&CFID=28529355&CFTOKEN=35812112

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[akarunway 1]

Quote

Overall and as a percentage of population, the USA has the most incarcerated people in the world. (now 1 in 100)

So, do we have more crooks than anyone else, or do we just put them in jail more effectively?

Is this high incarceration rate responsible for lowering crime?

If so, why did NY have a bigger drop in crime than FL, when FL puts more people in jail?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022801704.html?hpid=topnews

I read a speech by the Riverside Co., Ca. sheriff in the paper the other day. He said crime is down by X % and arrests are up by X %. Can anyone explain that to me. if arrests are up wouldn't that mean more crimes are being commited?

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[BIGUN 1,488]

Well, if you're citiing this source...
1. It's not a DOJ file file; it's a watchdog group.
2. The only table with a mean/median (table 6) appears different than your orginal post.
2.1 According to Table 6; Weapons has a mean of 92.2 and Violent offenses at 86.6
3. That was a 2000 report - 8 years ago.

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/fccp00.pdf

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[IanHarrop 43]

This is not news... been that way for years.

AFAIK the USA imprisoned enough people during the cold war to put the communist gulags to shame.

Nothing new now.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[freethefly 6]

The file at the UI is the same as the file that would be found on the DOJ site as the UI maintians the DOJ files. The numbers in that document are very much the same as numbers in this document

http://www.ussc.gov/ANNRPT/2007/Table13.pdf

http://www.ussc.gov/ANNRPT/2007/SBTOC07.htm

I don't believe that sentencing laws have changed in a good number of years. Any changes that may had occurred, I would think, would favor more lengthy time for certian crimes. In regards to the "drug war" lengthy sentencing in not a deterent. The steadily increasing stream of newly convicted prisoners is evidence. Arrest rates have increased yearly.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/drug.htm
Not all of these arrest and convictions end in prison time but, the number of prisoners for possesion is rising. Obvious, something needs to happen before there is a prison on every corner. Particulary with the rate of marijuana arrest and convictions resulting in more than half being sentenced to prison.
This is a good read at Medscape that sheds more light on marijuana and arrest.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/524483_10

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[kelpdiver 2]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022801704.html?hpid=topnews

I read a speech by the Riverside Co., Ca. sheriff in the paper the other day. He said crime is down by X % and arrests are up by X %. Can anyone explain that to me. if arrests are up wouldn't that mean more crimes are being commited?

It is possible, though perhaps unlikely.

The fewer criminals there are, the easier it is to catch them.

[nerdgirl 0]

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I read a speech by the Riverside Co., Ca. sheriff in the paper the other day. He said crime is down by X % and arrests are up by X %. Can anyone explain that to me. if arrests are up wouldn't that mean more crimes are being commited?

It *could.*

In addition to fewer criminals, as previously suggested, it *could* also mean that Riverside County sheriff has implemented more effective policing. They *could* be targetting one type of crime that is easier to catch or executing more 'stings.' What type of arrests? Vagrancy targetting homeless or violent felony arrests? It could be any combination of actions.

They *could* have recently hired more officers or made substantive changes to tactics, protocols, and procedures that enable more arrests.

They *could* also just be arresting more people; one really needs to know if convictions have similarly gone up as well as if unsolved crimes have gone down.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[BIGUN 1,488]

OK, so this really isn't about "drugs" and incarceration; it's another "marijuana; we wanna" thread. Got it.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[SpeedRacer 1]

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OK, so this really isn't about "drugs" and incarceration; it's another "marijuana; we wanna" thread. Got it.

Right. Anyone who dares criticize the Great Holy War on Drugs must be a druggie himself.

Speed Racer
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[Amazon 7]

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OK, so this really isn't about "drugs" and incarceration; it's another "marijuana; we wanna" thread. Got it.

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Right. Anyone who dares criticize the Great Holy War on Drugs must be a druggie himself.

We are back to a simple thought ( which is about all these guys can manage anyway)..

If you aint with us you iz agin us...

[Butters 0]

Our government has programmed us to believe that all drug users are drug abusers (D.A.R.E.) and all drug abusers pose a threat to us and thus must be incarcerated. The government is the shepherd and we are the sheep. If we (the sheep) question the government (the shepherd) than we are labeled wolves ...

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch