US sets record for most adults in jail or prison

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The US set a new record with 1 in 99 adults behind bars and is now the world's number 1 incarcerator. "2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it's more than any other nation."

Crime doesn't seem to be increasing. The governor of Kentucky stated that crime in his state increased 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent. The article doesn't explain it, but I think it's due to the continual war on marijuana and other forbidden drugs. Because of mandatory minimum laws for drug users, some states are forced to release violent criminals before those guilty of victimless drug possession.

I can't believe how many people are locked up. 1 in 30 men between 20 and 34 years old are currently behind bars. Among black men in that age range, 1 in 9 are currently behind bars.

"The report said the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which round out the Top 10." I don't even think that includes people who are locked up in the US because someone suspected they might commit a crime in the future.

The US is also among the world leaders in capital punishment, behind only China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/record-num ... 0000000001

In the UK it's about 1 in 600. And I believe thats the highest rate in Western Europe. Apparently these days there's places in the UK with worse crime rates than New York...

Ya I read the article and thats insane.

I know several people I went to high school with or know otherwise from the past that are in the prison system. The US has more people in carceration then China!! !!

About 1:1000 here, in 2006.

The US do that????

I have met people that have been in Dutch prisons. They were not keen to return, despite saying that they had liberal regimes.[?] In Britain, the Government is trying to pass legislation to lock up some people with personality disorders, to stop them comitting crime.

Also, as many as 70% of the people in US prisons have a learning disability:

http://tinyurl.com/25z5tc


Something really needs to be done about the prison over-crowding.. It's not only that the US has more people in prison as a percentage of the population than at any other time in it's history (more than 1 out of 100), the over-crowding problem is horrendous... Ted Koppel had a special on that problem not long ago..

You'd think they could provide testing to determine who might be autistic or have a learning disability so that those people could get other help instead of being thrown in jail and humiliated further... (a/k/a "rehabilitation")

The US finally decided to release some crack addicts from the overcrowded prisons... There was a case where this woman was with her new boyfriend and didn't know he was a crack dealer.. She had a little bit of the drug on her possession when he was busted and they ended up giving her FIFTEEN YEARS IN PRISON!! ! for that simple possession.. because she was there with him at the time.... She is one of those to get released earlier... Alot of people are in prison for simple possession of marijuana as well.... Something REALLY needs to be done about this problem...

Last edited by MusicMaker1 on 04 Mar 2008, 8:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Yes. If an autistic person or someone else acts a little strange, there is someway they can have the person committed to a mental hospital for evaluation. If the psychiatrist (or whoever makes the decision) thinks they are a threat to others, they can keep them locked up in the hospital indefinitely, without a jury trial. I don't know much about it. On the news, they had stories of people being locked up for having a meltdown in public. I watched TV shows that said some people are kept locked up in a hospital for life and I don't think they had any right to a jury trial, a lawyer, or any way to defend themselves or contest their imprisonment.



That's sad. It seems that some people are so afraid of people who are different than them that they want to lock them up and forget about them.

What surprises me is that the US is supposed to be the land of the free and value freedom but we lock up more people than any other country in the world and even lock up people who have never committed a crime just because they are different and might hurt someone in the future.

I would like to personally thank Baltimore, we couldn't have made it without you.

This is one of the times, when I feel slightly patriotic: 96 of 100000 people were in prison in Germany by 2006

I wonder what it would be like for an undiagnosed aspie in prison. I would be surprised if any lasted long without being stabbed for staring or looking at someone wrong. Or just not showing enough respect to whatever gang is running the place.

This is why drugs need to be decriminalized. Legalize marijuana and only go after the guys that sell other drugs, not people that use them. Drug addicts need medical help, not jail time.

System of a Down - The Prison song

I read that there are alot of people in prison on the autistic spectrum too... as well as with learning disabilities... It seems like there could be some type of testing of the prisoners to determine if they have a neurological disability and additional help could be provided for them.. Possibly, it could even be a reason to be released early into some other type of treatment program for people with neurobiological issues that may have caused them to become a prisoner in the penal system in the first place... Something really needs to be done about the prison over-crowding in the USA, and it seems that determining who those individuals are that may have neurological differences and providing them with some other type of therapeutic setting could help the problem of prison over-crowding.. I wonder if there are any steps being taken to do just that?? anyone know??

The simple solution would be for judges and magistrates to impose non-custodial sentences on minor crimes, ranging from community work, fines, compensations, therapy, remedial courses. Also to get out of the punishment mindset, and have more emphasis on reforming behaviour.

Thats the simple solution. Motivating the judicary is another matter.

In USA perhaps there is racism, why else would there be 1 in 9 black men under the age of 30 be in prison?

I think that is a good idea.



I agree.

Hmm... that's really worked in the UK. Here (the UK) minor crimes are considered by politicians to be things like theft and burglary, the kind of thing that can make life misery for those who live in the many communities where these activities are rife. Of course, forget to pay your car tax and the government have spared no expense in advertising the draconian consequences for such a heinous crime via the TV and radio. Similar situation exists with many minor motoring offences, the consequences for which can be far worse than for getting caught stealing from a shop. And God help you if you find a burglar in your house and you try to defend your property! Such is the crazy topsy-turvy world of the British brand of leftism.

Having said that, the Yank system isn't much better. It seems, in many cases, rather arbitrary, and although it may be tougher on things like theft, its treatment of those caught for drug possession places it worryingly close to the legal systems of the crackpot theocracies whose people it is purportedly "freeing" as we speak.


Why, indeed? Perhaps if your reading took you beyond the Guardian you could answer that one yourself. Probably the same reasons gangs of feral black youths roam London sticking knives into people on a whim.