Prisoner numbers

[Griff]

That is an interesting question. Another would be will the percentage of the population in prison rise with the rising population?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Griff

... we may be able to shut down the drug war. Maybe it is wishful thinking, but you got to have hope (tm).

Hopefully that will never happen. We need to decriminalize pot, but that is about it.

[TheMercenary]

Yea, they really need to speed up the executions to lower those numbers. And it is only 0.9 of 100 adults so technically not a whole person.

Here is the report:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080228/D8V3KF5O0.html

[monster]

Prisoner Number?

you are number 6.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Cloud

how low would be a "good" number of people in prison?

All we know is that no other country - not the evil Russian; not the evil Chinese; not the evil N Korean; not the evil Iranians - put so many people in jail. Their numbers are less by population and less by percentage.

Last figures I read (and confirmed recently by a prison chaplain) are 1% of the American population is in Federal prisons. That number is higher when we add state and county prisons. No other nation in this world imprisons so many - by numbers or by percentage.

Something like 60% of those prisoners are there only on drug crimes. And of those drug convicted prisoners, that number is highest for marijuana possession. But this is good according to hard-asses. After all, any drug user is evil; deserves prison. Remember, Americans are the good guys. Therefore so many people in prison is justified.

[lumberjim]

average prison guard life expectancy? 54


dana:

I think the statistic I found most saddening about the British prison population is the incredibly high percentage who have literacy problems and the equally high percentage who have mental health problems. Our prisons are full of people who've been thoroughly let down and in many cases outright abandoned by the state from a fairly young age.

the State let these underachievers down?

*blows chunks*

[Aliantha]

For those morons among you who think this is a 'bash america' thread, you're wrong. I would never have thought the number to be that high. In fact, I didn't think there would have been much of a difference between America and other western nations.

That was why I was surprised. Not because I wanted to bash America.

I'm sure those of you who choose to will still think the way you do. For those of you that think that way, you can have a big fuck you from me.

Oh yeah, and just so it doesn't seem so nasty, here's a for you arsehole/s.

[lookout123]

I wonder if prison guards get paid more than teachers.

Only if they are male. It's in the rules.

OK, maybe I just don't understand something here, but while you all are appalled at how we as a society failed these poor prisoners my thought is 1 in 100 American males made the choice to commit a crime and was too damn stupid to get away with it. Seriously, show me an astounding number of people who are in prison that have not been found guilty of a crime, then I'll be appalled.

[tw]

He made a mistake. He was caught in possession of marijuana. Therefore mandatory sentencing requires punishment equivalent to murder. Five year mandatory sentencing is a solution? Clearly America has massively more prisoners only because America has so many criminals. Curious that Australia, created as a penal colony, does not have so many evil people.

From the Washington Post of 29 Feb 2008:

New High In U.S. Prison Numbers
With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.

The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been particularly affected: One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 for white women in the same age group. ...

In addition, when it comes to preventing repeat offenses by nonviolent criminals -- who make up about half of the incarcerated population -- less-expensive punishments such as community supervision, electronic monitoring and mandatory drug counseling might prove as much or more effective than jail.

For instance, Florida, which has almost doubled its prison population over the past 15 years, has experienced a smaller drop in crime than New York, which, after a brief increase, has reduced its number of inmates to below the 1993 level. ...

Five states -- Vermont, Michigan, Oregon, Connecticut and Delaware -- now spend as much as or more on corrections as on higher education. Locally, Maryland is near the top, spending 74 cents on corrections for every dollar it spends on higher education. Virginia spends 60 cents on the dollar.

[lookout123]

I didn't say anything about the laws they broke, just that they were found guilty of breaking the law. Personally I think marijuana laws are pretty stupid, but they are currently the law of the land. If you choose to possess and/or consume the herb you do so in violation of the law and are subject to the penalty. Don't like it? Work on changing the law before you do the deed.

[lumberjim]

it's winter. some people get arrested on purpose.

3 square meals per day, better treatment than they get out on the street.....

seriously. I know a guy who had a friend that would get incarcerated in the winter ON PURPOSE.

[lookout123]

it's a hell of a lot easier than closing 25 little old ladies on a Nissan every month.

[lumberjim]

i do 125 deals per month on average. today i averaged 1574 per copy. made 14k+ on 8 deals. that's rare. none of them were little or old. only 2 were ladies.

I wouldn't have been able to do that in Australia, btw.....but..Ironically....one of my customers' name was Australia. no lie.....her first name was Australia. no, really. it is.

[lookout123]

awesome day LJ. I never worked behind the desk. I just hustled the cars. my personal target was always 20 cars and $35K gross. Rarely hit it, but it was a goal. Our whole store usually did about 200-225 deals a month. Hit 350 in October of '01.

[tw]

Originally Posted by lookout123

Don't like it? Work on changing the law before you do the deed.

Or work to violate a stupid law so that eventually, intelligence takes hold, and the law is revoked. It was called Prohibition. Best way that eliminated prohibition was to violate it. Deja vue drugs. Something approaching 60% of the prisoners are eliminated. Suddenly the college for making criminals has less students.

Just because it is the law justifies anything? Nonsense. We are supposed to be smarter than that rhetoric.