US Has the Most Prisoners in the World

by James Vicini

Reuters, December 9, 2006

Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to criminal justice experts.
A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people -- or one in every 32 American adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail.

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College in London, more people are behind bars in the United States than in any other country. China ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000.

The U.S. incarceration rate of 737 per 100,000 people in the highest, followed by 611 in Russia and 547 for St. Kitts and Nevis. In contrast, the incarceration rates in many Western industrial nations range around 100 per 100,000 people.

Groups advocating reform of U.S. sentencing laws seized on the latest U.S. prison population figures showing admissions of inmates have been rising even faster than the numbers of prisoners who have been released.

"The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. We rank first in the world in locking up our fellow citizens," said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports alternatives in the war on drugs.

"We now imprison more people for drug law violations than all of western Europe, with a much larger population, incarcerates for all offences."
Ryan King, a policy analyst at The Sentencing Project, a group advocating sentencing reform, said the United States has a more punitive criminal justice system than other countries.

MORE PEOPLE TO PRISON
"We send more people to prison, for more different offences, for longer periods of time than anybody else," he said.
Drug offenders account for about 2 million of the 7 million in prison, on probation or parole, King said, adding that other countries often stress treatment instead of incarceration.

Commenting on what the prison figures show about U.S. society, King said various social programs, including those dealing with education, poverty, urban development, health care and child care, have failed.
"There are a number of social programs we have failed to deliver. There are systemic failures going on," he said. "A lot of these people then end up in the criminal justice system."

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in California, said the high prison numbers represented a proper response to the crime problem in the United States. Locking up more criminals has contributed to lower crime rates, he said.

"The hand-wringing over the incarceration rate is missing the mark," he said.
Scheidegger said the high prison population reflected cultural differences, with the United States having far higher crimes rates than European nations or Japan. "We have more crime. More crime gets you more prisoners."
Julie Stewart, president of the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, cited the Justice Department report and said drug offenders are clogging the U.S. justice system.

"Why are so many people in prison? Blame mandatory sentencing laws and the record number of nonviolent drug offenders subject to them," she said.

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When prisons are getting filled, that means society somewhere is failing miserably.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

I think this is a politicum with multiple aspects.

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Do we have too many in prison or do China and Russia (and other Western industrial nations) just turn a blind eye? It's easy to keep those numbers down if you just ignore some crime.

Cull the murderers, rapists, pedophiles and repeat violent offenders and that'll free up some room and get the numbers to a more "reasonable" level.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Other western Industrial nations are relatively safer, Russia isn't, its quite bad last time I was there and I get reports that its worse now. China is quite safe, the major cities are very well policed.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

Why can we not outsource our convicts to say,Somalia,Ghana or somesuch.

Think of the savings.

China is fairly safe in the major cities, especially in the touristy areas. Not so much outside the cities, though. I've never been but one of my uncles travels there often for Pratt & Whitney and said it's not uncommon to have a security detail when travelling site to site. But then again that may have more to do with American sentiment than anything else.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Outsourcing them to the U.S. has worked quite well for Mexico and Cuba.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Well I doubt how accurite those numbers are, the government can and will say what they want.

China tends to shoot quite a few of them, which keeps the population down.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Yeah I wonder how many are illigals that we are locking up for someone else.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Tell you what, my wife and I felt much safer walking in Shanghai during midnight than we do while travelling in NYC, specially the subways.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

Really? NYC is safe no one really has any problems there.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Depends on where you are in NYC, my wife got mugged in the SI Ferry during daytime. A man put a knife on her back and robbed her in front of passengers.

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99 Gurkha with OM616 IDI turbo

2015 Gurkha with OM616 DI turbo

2014 Rexton W with OM612 VGT

I think in most cities it's the luck, or lack there of, of the draw. I've been to NYC a number of times, wearing Red Sox or Patriots stuff no less , and haven't ever felt unsafe. Although you do tend to pay more attention to what's going on around you.

I've been to Boston more often and the same holds true for me. But there are certainly people who have had problems in both.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Touche'.....I expected that rejoinder,how true.