What is going on in America?

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Adam

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Registered Senior Member
The second edition (2000) of the World Prison Population List shows that over 8 ½ million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, either as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners) or having been convicted and sentenced. Half of these are in the United States, Russia and China, and the first two countries also exhibit the highest prison population rates.


At the beginning of the year 2000, Russia had the highest prison population rate in the world, some 730 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by the USA (690). After these two countries come Belarus and Kazakhstan, and four small territories in the central America/Caribbean region whose high rates owe much to the imprisonment of drug smugglers who are not nationals of the countries in question - Belize, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the US Virgin Islands. All these countries have rates of at least 460 per 100,000. It needs to be emphasised that their rates of between 460 and 730 per 100,000 are vastly greater than what is to be found in most parts of the world, since two thirds of countries have rates of 150 per 100,000 or below.

Source.
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The number of people imprisoned in the United States is at record levels and will exceed two million by the end of this year, authorities say.

Source.
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More:
http://www.aic.gov.au/stats/international/wpl.html
http://www.aic.gov.au/stats/international/

So, almost a quarter of the world's prison population in the USA. Why?
 
So, almost a quarter of the world's prison population in the USA. Why?
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The "Drug War" is the cause, half of the people put in jail are in for non-violent drug offences. Also, the drug war funds criminals with free flowing money to support their activities.
 
I think il be the first to say it. WE HAVE TO MANY LAWS! So many that if my dad buys beer on sunday then he can be arrested. How stupid is that?

Didn't Australia used to be one big prison?
 
Originally posted by CounslerCoffee

Didn't Australia used to be one big prison?
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Nope, we used to be six British colonies with heaps of prisons here and there. Most early settlers were farmers and such, free settlers, ratehr than criminals. But it makes ok jokes.
 
The Same Old (america)

I'd say that what's going on in america is the same old damn shit that's been happening since this country was founded, puritanical refugees.

We do have too many laws, yet we espouse "freedom" as our chief ideal... c.f. Braveheart as the pinnacle of american patriotic movie peace-time propaganda...


anyway... good points all.
 
I think that this is because the American law system is very "just" in its own special way. America has a death penalty that keeps inmates in jail for 60+ years. If we started executing all of these criminals there would be alot less inmates clogging our jails.
 
Average time in prison before execution is actually about 11 and a half years.
 
The prison system in the US is big business, literally, fuelled by politicians anti-crime platforms, rural areas that want the jobs a prison brings and, of course, the people who get the contracts. Prisons are labour-intensive, and they're recession-proof too. There's even a "Corrections Yellow Pages".

Of course, they've got to keep them full...
 
topical music

:m:


howdy all, for good music on this issue, check out Michael Franti's latest (concept) album called Stay Human. Based on an independent community radio station covering the political issues behind the then impending execution of Sister Fatima. Great, great music. and all about what we're talking about...


.... Rock the nation....
 
oh, and right on, MacZ... you said it. everything in the States is related to business and prisons are no different. dont' they even have unions? prisons! scary. not that i'm against unions per se.

anyway,,,, it's all sickening if you as me....
 
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