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25% of the population in prison? (Absolutely shocking)

So what are the reasons? Is US really a civilized society?

They have 25% of the prison population, not 25% of their population in prison.

Not that this is good for the US anyway (it shows that harsh sentencing does nothing to deter crime) but it's nowhere near THAT bad.

Yes if it was 25% of the population it would mean we have upwards of 75 million people in jail.

I would be curious if we have more people in prison then countries with larger populations. Wouldn't be surprised if we did.

EDIT: Well the article answers that question.

America is the greatest country on Earth and is perfect in every way. If we have 25% of the world's prison population than all that means is that other countries need to stop being pussies.

Originally posted by Tzeentch
America is the greatest country on Earth and is perfect in every way. If we have 25% of the world's prison population than all that means is that other countries need to stop being pussies.

You know, I've actually heard this argument used seriously before. Sad, huh?

As for reasons (for the prison population)- I have heard one theory that the reason for the crazy lock-up rate (much of which is drugs related) actually stems from after the Civil War when a bunch of southern States (I think Texas is often fingered as a culprit) massively criminalised anything associated with poverty (and hence blacks) as a way of controlling the black population post-emancipation.

Unfortunately, because so many people love 'tough on crime' rhetoric, the approach actually spread throughout the entire system. It's no longer racist in intent (though blacks are disproportionately affected of course), it's become this kind of crazy, self-justifying thing.

Ironically, I've read a few articles about Texas trying to roll back 'tough on crime' policies in the modern day.

EDIT: Here's an overview of a book about the theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Tough

Originally posted by Tzeentch
America is the greatest country on Earth and is perfect in every way. If we have 25% of the world's prison population than all that means is that other countries need to stop being pussies.


Some countries are tougher. Islamic countries will sever a gsnd for petty theft. If we tried that here, shoplifting crimes may go down lol.

Originally posted by S_W_LeGenD
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25% of the population in prison? (Absolutely shocking)

So what are the reasons? Is US really a civilized society?

One of the biggest reasons is jailing for fairly minor drug offenses, for fairly significant lengths of time.

Originally posted by Q99
One of the biggest reasons is jailing for fairly minor drug offenses, for fairly significant lengths of time.

Yes, when going through this in college criminology, it was something like 50% of all incarcerations are tied to, in some way, drug offenses.


Found something (couldn't find the source I was talking about which came from the DoJ, iirc), but this source may be a bit biased:

http://sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=128

Originally posted by Tzeentch
America is the greatest country on Earth and is perfect in every way. If we have 25% of the world's prison population than all that means is that other countries need to stop being pussies.




Greatest country on Earth? Probably still is despite the fact that it's currently led by the most incompetent weakest leader in U.S. history. Perfect in every way? Not so sure about that anymore with how you progressive libs with all of your PC bullshit is destroying it. It most certainly used to be though. Like a decade ago and also during the Reagan years, of course.

Star's angry over a goof post, probably not getting any presents from Santa this year

Title and OP don't mesh...

But, I'd say taking in the poor of other countries definitely doesn't help.

Originally posted by Star428
Greatest country on Earth? Probably still is despite the fact that it's currently led by the most incompetent weakest leader in U.S. history. Perfect in every way? Not so sure about that anymore with how you progressive libs with all of your PC bullshit is destroying it. It most certainly used to be though. Like a decade ago and also during the Reagan years, of course. Greatest at what?

Originally posted by Mindset
Greatest at what?

Number of people who believe in angels

Originally posted by Mindset
Greatest at what?
At having it's citizens kill each other.

Originally posted by Robtard
Number of people who believe in angels Originally posted by Adam Grimes
At having it's citizens kill each other. http://media20.giphy.com/media/3sbZaIUlKDTacTS3rG/giphy.gif
http://31.media.tumblr.com/acad76ad6c45c6ad7732aeb0a4fa339f/tumblr_n7lgwbmpA91tp5nq6o1_1280.gif
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/22/22-usa-fan-mouth.w529.h352.gif

Originally posted by Robtard
Star's angry over a goof post, probably not getting any presents from Santa this year

Originally posted by Star428
Greatest country on Earth? Probably still is despite the fact that it's currently led by the most incompetent weakest leader in U.S. history. Perfect in every way? Not so sure about that anymore with how you progressive libs with all of your PC bullshit is destroying it. It most certainly used to be though. Like a decade ago and also during the Reagan years, of course.

Wow you called this country perfect. Seriously no country is perfect, it doesn't matter if you go back a decade or not. For instance I don't ever remember a time when America had zero crime, unemployment, or homelessness.