USA has the most people in prison. 1/4 of all the people jailed in the world

[LS20]

it makes me feel safer knowing that

 

[KGB1]

SoaD - Prison Song

 

[naddicott]

How about our stellar infant mortality rates?

link

Double the rate of deaths as Hong Kong and slightly behind Cuba in the rankings? Come on, Cuba is better at keeping its kids alive than the US?

The US is a country where the strong survive. The downtroden and the weak obviously belong in prison or dead. Our incarceration rate was higher than South Africa's even when South Africa was under apartheid and keeping folks like Nelson Mandela in prison.
[edit: from www.prisonsucks.com - South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black adult men: 851 per 100,000
U.S. under George Bush (2001), Black adult men: 7,226 per 100,000]

There's a reason why a Republican governor granted clemency to every death row inmate in his state despite being strongly in favor of the death penalty when he entered office. It is not just death row inmates who are falsely convicted with forced confessions, jailhouse snitch testimony, mistaken eyewitness identification, and incompetent defense lawyers. Sometimes, somebody has to take the rap - regardless of whether they did it or not.

God bless the USA.

 

[Commish]

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time....

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: naddicott
How about our stellar infant mortality rates?

link

Double the rate of deaths as Hong Kong and slightly behind Cuba in the rankings? Come on, Cuba is better at keeping its kids alive than the US?

The US is a country where the strong survive. The downtroden and the weak obviously belong in prison or dead. Our incarceration rate was higher than South Africa's even when South Africa was under apartheid and keeping folks like Nelson Mandela in prison.

There's a reason why a Republican governor granted clemency to every death row inmate in his state despite being strongly in favor of the death penalty when he entered office. It is not just death row inmates who are falsely convicted with forced confessions, jailhouse snitch testimony, mistaken eyewitness identification, and incompetent defense lawyers. Sometimes, somebody has to take the rap - regardless of whether they did it or not.

God bless the USA.

Heh. I feel the same way you do, I have little faith in our criminal justice system. The only incentive is to convict, police and prosecutors seem to care very little if the accused is actually guilty or not. And the general public continually encourages this. All you have to do is read some of the more idiotic posts on this board, where many members question why we still even have trials and courts of law anymore.

:disgust:
As for the US being "a country where the strong survive," I approve of this. Socialism always fails and always will. I simply dislike the high levels of corruption that seems to have taken control of every level of our government.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Commish
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time....

Sensible, intelligent discussion please.

btw, problems with your "argument:"
1. Almost everything in America is now a "crime." Our mob-rule has almost reached the point where it is a crime simply to "offend" someone else.
2. Our criminal justice system is focused so intently on convictions that many of the inmates actually didn't "do the crime," but they are doing the time... although I'm sure you're incapable of understanding that. The facts speak for themselves, though: police crime labs caught fabricating evidence, public defenders who refuse to allow defendants to do anything but plea bargain, etc...

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Kiyup
Why do you think that is?

Discuss.

Many countries just kill their criminals. That keeps their prison populations down.

I'd be willing to be that our violent criminal population isn't that much higher than other countries. We have a lot of drug offenders in prison that other advanced countries wouldn't prosecute.

That's just my guess.

 

[exp]

Why do you think that is?

Because we're all a bunch of criminals.

USA! USA! USA! *stabs own mother in the back* USA! USA! USA!

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Kiyup
Why do you think that is?

Discuss.

Many countries just kill their criminals. That keeps their prison populations down.

I'd be willing to be that our violent criminal population isn't that much higher than other countries. We have a lot of drug offenders in prison that other advanced countries wouldn't prosecute.

That's just my guess.

Yeah, that's what I think. We could lower the population by raising the use of the Death Penalty and lowering the red-tape (appeal process).

amish

 

[IGBT]

Criminal industrial complex...............

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Kiyup
Why do you think that is?

Discuss.

Many countries just kill their criminals. That keeps their prison populations down.

I'd be willing to be that our violent criminal population isn't that much higher than other countries. We have a lot of drug offenders in prison that other advanced countries wouldn't prosecute.

That's just my guess.

That would be my guess too.

 

[SoylentGreen]

Then why is it every time an execution will finally take place there are people out protesting it?

There were people opposed to McVeighs. I wanted to go out and kick each and every one of those people in the ass.

On another note, most European countries consider us barbaric for executing criminals.

 

[BigJelly]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: CptObvious
Of course we do...we put people away instead of executing them (on the spot)...cutting off limbs etc.

As opposed to who? Europe, Japan?

China runs protestors over with tanks. Soviets use to have people and their families disapear. The middle-east doesn't not feel murder is a crime unless a jew kills a arab but if an arab kills a jew he gets awarded. In america, we have a prison population because our prisons are too humane if they were inhumane maybe serving 5-10 would be more of a punishment--instead of a vacation to most other countries.

 

[naddicott]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Many countries just kill their criminals. That keeps their prison populations down.

I'd be willing to be that our violent criminal population isn't that much higher than other countries. We have a lot of drug offenders in prison that other advanced countries wouldn't prosecute.

That's just my guess.

76 countries that have abolished the death penalty.

Including Austrailia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweeden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Killing criminals might explain why we incarcerate more than Pakistan or North Korea, but it can't account for the huge incarceration rate gap with many first world countries.

 

[BigJelly]

Originally posted by: Kiyup
Then why is it every time an execution will finally take place there are people out protesting it?

There were people opposed to McVeighs. I wanted to go out and kick each and every one of those people in the ass.

On another note, most European countries consider us barbaric for executing criminals.

The answer is what the french did to the Nazis and french collabartors after WE liberated the town.
What is is murder? *Ding ding ding*
Funny how a country can do a 180 and act like it never did acts of barbarism.

Here's a quote by Walter E. Williams about how we should run our justice system: "We could adopt a better approach to crime control by showing criminals the same kind of mercy that they show their victims." Think about it.

 

[BigJelly]

Originally posted by: naddicott
Killing criminals might explain why we incarcerate more than Pakistan or North Korea, but it can't account for the huge incarceration rate gap with many first world countries.

Because our jail system is like the other "first world countries." Out jail system would be heaven for the "second" and "third" world countries. What we need is a more of a punishment than a slap on the wrist. How many people would do dope if they had to serve 5 years of hard labor with no TV, newspaper, air conditioning, desert, no prison band, no drugs, no treats, and if you get 5 years you serve 5 fuc#ing years--not 2-3 months. Or how about thress strikes and your dead--for violent crimes only.

Of course i seem to be more extreme, but maybe I just feel rapists, murders, and other scum that hurts hard working people should be punished/held accountable for THEIR acts.

 

[tcsenter]

How about our stellar infant mortality rates?

How about them? Our higher infant mortality rates are strongly associated with the stunning rates of substance abuse among women in many urban areas, not 'inadequate' prenatal care or access to it. Pregnant mothers addicted to heroin or crack generally don't give a damned about prenatal care, so access is irrelevant. You can lead a horse to water...

Double the rate of deaths as Hong Kong and slightly behind Cuba in the rankings? Come on, Cuba is better at keeping its kids alive than the US?

Hong Kong? lol! Have you ever been to Hong Kong? If their public health statistics are accurate to within +/- 50%, I'd be surprised.

The US has a higher per capita rate of imprisonment because:

-- We can afford to, we have money to build prisons and pay for police officers

-- We have an effective legal system where criminals are caught and punished (unlike Great Britain where criminals are caught but released again and again and again and again with comparative slaps on the wrist)

-- Modern society presents FAR more opportunities to engage in criminality; there is not much identify theft, credit card fraud, retail fraud, "coupon fraud rings", insurance fraud, drunk driving, check fraud, bank fraud, car theft, wire fraud, and white collar crimes in Afghanistan. Basically, in your developing nations, the only kind of crime is direct physical or property crime - muggings, robberies, murders, etc.

 

[SoylentGreen]

Nice ts.

Are you a criminal justice major?

 

[rawoutput]

I think that prisoners should be educated during their incarceration and given a chance to repay society instead of just sitting around and waiting to get out. Prisoners could serve as cheap farmhands, doing the jobs that most people don't want to do. Fixing roads, etc etc, but in a larger capacity than they do today. I think if prisons are turned into humane work camps then it would be a larger detractor to potential criminals, and an opportunity to become contributive to those who are already serving time. Sitting in a cell for 22 hours a day does nothing for anybody, besides cost the taxpayers an assload without anything in return.

 

[StageLeft]

Yep the US LOVES to jail people.

I suppose it's better than stoning them to death or beheadings like in the middle desert, but for developed nations they sure do love their jails!

 

[Zebo]

Real simple. If you don't care about people why should they care about you? We invented skid row, do our best to keep them there, and building prisons is big business which pay very well because it plays on public fear. We need to lock up all our problems instead of dealing with em in a civilized manner like Japan or the EU does in order to sleep at night. Problem is society gets worse everyday this way.

 

[hagbard]

Originally posted by: Kiyup
Why do you think that is?

Discuss.

Because "Land of the Free" is merely a rhetorical device.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: IGBT
Criminal industrial complex...............

More true than you may realize...

 

[chemos]

it's because, in general, we don't kill criminals. we lock em up and throw away the key (even bad offenders). we also have laws in place for most drugs (prescription and recreational). not only that, but we enforce these laws actively, setting up stings, etc. we've declared war on just about everything.

imagine, 1/4 of all jailed people are in "the land of the free." ironic, don't you think?

 

[hagbard]

I seriously think that given America's current course, its only going to be a very short time before the empire collapses. To quote REM, "its the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine". The demise of the United Federal Police State of America might be the best thing for it.