1 in 100 Americans are in Prison or Jail

[mosesbotbol]

What have we done to fail ourselves like this? Surly, we are not that criminal as a society?

I bring this article up in relation to a thread on whether pot should be legal... If less things were illegal, there would be less prisoners and crime...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...ans_in_prison/

NEW YORK—For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

more stories like thisThe report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 -- one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.

"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state -- but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We're not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes -- but we're also probably incarcerating people who don't need to be."

According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase -- 12 percent -- was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails -- a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, 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 make up the rest of the Top 10.

[cbsmokin]

I thought this thread was going to be something about being married.

I kid, I kid.

[Blueface]

Darn glad to be on the 99 side of that 100.

[SmokeyTheKid]

The problem is that the American justice system is hopelessly broken. Our answer to everything is to imprison someone. We need to find new ways to deal with nonviolent criminals.

Prison should be a place for murderers, rapists, etc. Not for people who've been caught with pot a few too many times, cheated on taxes, etc. Those people should be punished (hell, very short prison sentences could even be a part), but that can be done in any number of ways.

[Corona Gigante]

The prison industry is the second fastest growing industry in the nation, second only to casinos.

With close to two million people behind bars throughout the country, the United States now has more people in prison per capita than any other country in the world. According to "For Justice Against Prison" in the March 2000 issue of Z Magazine, "U.S. citizens constitute 5 percent of the global population. U.S. inmates constitute 25 percent of the world's prisoners." California alone has the largest prison system in the world.

More...

Prisons are big money. A prison is a source of valuable jobs, tax revenues, etc for many post-industrial small towns in the boonies. The people who build and run private prisons vigorously lobby state and federal government. Politicians welcome the campaign contributions and can't afford to look "soft on crime."

[BigFrankMD]

Originally Posted by cbsmokin

I thought this thread was going to be something about being married.

I kid, I kid.

hahahhahah!

Originally Posted by SmokeyTheKid

The problem is that the American justice system is hopelessly broken. Our answer to everything is to imprison someone. We need to find new ways to deal with nonviolent criminals.

Prison should be a place for murderers, rapists, etc. Not for people who've been caught with pot a few too many times, cheated on taxes, etc. Those people should be punished (hell, very short prison sentences could even be a part), but that can be done in any number of ways.

Could not agree more. I blame most of the prison population on the war on drugs.

Honestly I think people should be beaten / whipped in public. Serious lack of ass whippings in todays society.

[jloutlaw]

Stand back and look objectively. Is 1% high? What % of the population is criminal?

[tnip23]

Originally Posted by Corona Gigante

The prison industry is the second fastest growing industry in the nation, second only to casinos.

With close to two million people behind bars throughout the country, the United States now has more people in prison per capita than any other country in the world. According to "For Justice Against Prison" in the March 2000 issue of Z Magazine, "U.S. citizens constitute 5 percent of the global population. U.S. inmates constitute 25 percent of the world's prisoners." California alone has the largest prison system in the world.

More...

Prisons are big money. A prison is a source of valuable jobs, tax revenues, etc for many post-industrial small towns in the boonies. The people who build and run private prisons vigorously lobby state and federal government. Politicians welcome the campaign contributions and can't afford to look "soft on crime."

great point, in a capitalist society you need just follow the money. if the big $dollars are in gambling and incarceration, we will have more casinos and prisons. if we could change the focus of the money towards alternative punishments and for that matter alternative energy sources, we would lead the world in those categories. the key IMHO is doing that by involving the free market as opposed to creating more bureaucracy.

[mosesbotbol]

In America, we call ourselves "The land of the free", apparently, that is not the case. Actually we would be the least free if incarceration is the opposite of freedom. How ironic.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

In America, we call ourselves "The land of the free", apparently, that is not the case. Actually we would be the least free if incarceration is the opposite of freedom. How ironic.

Now you are evolving into a whole different discussion.
I wonder if many of the criminals are as result of such freedom?

That is one good thing, and the only one frankly, that I could say about that other political system (the one starting with that "C"). Crime didn't exist. Actually did, but didn't. No one would ever find out as they would never find you again. No need for so many prisons.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Blueface

Now you are evolving into a whole different discussion.
I wonder if many of the criminals are as result of such freedom?

I don't want it to evolve into another discussion, just making an imperical observation.

It would be interesting to count how many Federal laws there are in this country vs. how many Federal laws there are in a countries like Austrailia, Netherlands, Russia, China, Switzerland and Norway for instance...

Who do you think has the most laws in the books? Wouldn't that decide which which country is the freeist? How could one objectively decide which country has the most freedom?

[Wang Lung]

Originally Posted by SmokeyTheKid

The problem is that the American justice system is hopelessly broken. Our answer to everything is to imprison someone. We need to find new ways to deal with nonviolent criminals.

Prison should be a place for murderers, rapists, etc. Not for people who've been caught with pot a few too many times, cheated on taxes, etc. Those people should be punished (hell, very short prison sentences could even be a part), but that can be done in any number of ways.

Not many people in jail for cheating on their taxes. Nor for possessing small quantities of weed. Many states either allow small quantities or handle it as a misdemeanor.

There is a lot of gang activity in California. And crystal meth, as in most of the Country, is a huge problem.

I spend a lot of time in California prisons as a salesman. You don't see any white collar criminals in Folsom, Mule Creek, High Country, Vacaville.

If you object to these people being in jail, I'm sure you could take them in when they go on parole and teach them to behave.

[borndead1]

Privately owned prisons


A big part of it, too, is that prison does not "rehabilitate" criminals. Earning a high school diploma and/or completing a job training program should be MANDATORY for anyone sentenced to prison.


Bring back chain gangs. The business owner/farmer/etc. contracts with the dept. of corrections to have criminals do the jobs. Part of the money goes to pay for the cost of housing an inmate, part of it goes into a savings account for when the inmate is released. This would also discourage illegal immigration, as the convicts could do the jobs that many illegal immigrants come here for, the jobs that "most Americans don't want to do".

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

How could one objectively decide which country has the most freedom?

Don't know but at least here, with all the conveniences we have to offer, at least Freedom comes in a box. (sorry, couldn't help it).

[JaKaAch]

Originally Posted by jloutlaw

Stand back and look objectively. Is 1% high? What % of the population is criminal?

One percent doesn't sound like much. It seems hard to believe that all the crime in the U.S. is committed by only one percent.
I wished the SOB that stole my truck was in prison. I'm sure it wasn't his first auto theft.

The population of the federal prison's could be cut by almost 1/3, if this 1/3 was deported instead of incarcerated.
From CNN:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...01/ldt.01.html
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 30 percent of federal prisoners are not U.S. citizens. At a cost of $63 a day, taxpayers spend more than $3 million every day to house non-U.S. citizen dollars in our federal prisons. Most are thought to be illegal aliens.

What happens to non-U.S. citizens when their sentence is served and they are released? Are the non-U.S. citizens counted in this 1 in 100 number?