25% of the Worlds Prison Population is in the USA

soulsinging wrote:

ive had 3 dui's. ive served a grand total of 6 days in jail and 1 year and 9 months of license suspension.

with your suspension, were you allowed to go back and forth to work and the store with your vehicle? i know people that had a lapse in insurance and their license was suspended for almost a year and weren't allowed to drive anywhere, including work, the store, even to the hospital in an emergency case. to me, that's fucked up.

**edit**
my opinion, a lot of the problems start at home. if you're not raised right, you're not going to make the right decisions. sure, there are some cases that contradict what i just wrote, but those are few and far between.

EvilToasterElf wrote:

What I'm saying is the draconian and insanely overkill rockefellar drug laws is what allows the prison population to swell so much. We have all of those prisons because we can lock up minor drug offenders for a long time, when rapists, embezzlers, and serious felons are revolving in and out the door.

Semi-agree with you, and some of the other posters.

The U.S. is MUCH stricter than other countries on drugs, its beyond compare danmac.

But I also think a part of it is that there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S., so that the median income here is deceiving.

Basically though, there are so many causes and factors that have to be looked at to determine whether the huge U.S. prison population - that 25% number- is proof that America is the worst nation on the planet. In doing so, you just appear to be a spin artist.

We have a vengeance system - not a justice system.

danmac wrote:

I think its the wrong approach, but slightly off topic. Good point about India and China, which leads me to think that its not maybe the social conditions, its the people, the way of America, of grab grag grab, greed, profit, better yourself, a race to the top, for the most, and fuck everybody else cos its every man for himself. Does this crime come from the capitalist drive, the corporate brain washing into making these people want something more than they should, products, money, cars etc?

Or is it social?

Or is it the American mentality? To take something at the point of a gun.

"Heck, if our leaders are doing it, why can't we?"

I think it has alot do with respect. Or the lack of it. By keeping people blind with consumerism, and fighting each other, the government (or the people, the masters of war behind the government) can go about their daily business of greed and acquisition.

Those are all good points. I guess Britain wants to be just like their big brother according to these statistics. First the best in Europe, next the world!! Welcome aboard, danny !

"With a prison population rate of 142 per 100,000, England and Wales lock up more prisoners per head of the population than any other country in Western Europe, apart from Luxembourg, and far in excess of countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Denmark and Ireland. This represents a 15 per cent increase since 1999."

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=914

god bless the usa.

Quote:
Originally Posted by know1
Again, I'm not justifying any particular laws. The thread topic is about the prison population of the U.S. being out of proportion with the rest of the world. My explanation is that we have a larger capacity and better law enforcement.

Do you not agree that if you have more prisons, you can hold more people?

For example if you have two countries with identical population and identical crime statistics, but one of them has 10 prisons and can hold 100,000 prisoners and the other only has one prison and can hold 10,000 prisoners, which one will have more prisoners?


What I'm saying is the draconian and insanely overkill rockefellar drug laws is what allows the prison population to swell so much. We have all of those prisons because we can lock up minor drug offenders for a long time, when rapists, embezzlers, and serious felons are revolving in and out the door.

zstillings wrote:

I don't see the gap as the problem. The problem is that too many of the "poor" criminals believe that they are owed something without having to work for it.

The drug problem in th U.S is a direct result of racism aimed at the African American population. Crack and cocaine are esentially the same drug, one mostly used by rich white men, the other used by poor black men. The difference is the punishement for possesion. It's 10 to one. Minimum mandatory possesion of any amount of crack is an automatic 5 years in prison. If a white guy has some coke, he's gonna get a slap on the wrist.But a young black man with a tiny rock will be there for a long time.

Where does the money for these prisons come from, you might ask? The government cuts the funding of schools and colleges to pay for the monsterous prison appetite. So then we have another generation of poor half educated adults who will get sucked into the system. This system is all propelled by politicians who need something to drive their political campaign during an election year. Be tough on crime, be tough on drugs and the sheep like masses of the American population will love you and feed your ballot box.What else would be political motivation for this you might ask? Felons can't vote in the U.S. It's called disenfranchisement. So all the black voices have been silenced. Politicians then say, well we don't have to worry about the black vote because...They can't vote anyway. now we can make all the fat white corporate bastards who fund are campaigns happy, by keeping the poor in their place and giving the rich more tax breaks. Who's going to stop us, we took away their voting rights.


Every drug law ever written down on the books in the U.S. has been racially motivated. Why do you think marijuana has a mexican name? Ever seen old black and white propaganda of the so called "china men" and their evil opium dens, ever heard of the opium wars? Google it, you might learn something.


And the scariest part of Americas so called "War On Drugs". Most of the men who go to prison for drugs have never been convicted of a violent offense. However, 25% of the people who go to prison for a non-violent drug offense are convicted a second time after release for commiting a violent offense. Why is this you might ask? Because of the very nature of prisons themselves, drug addicts are being put away for having a sickness, and while serving an unjust 5 year sentence for possesion they learn to be violent from the murderers, and rapists they are forced to live with. It's ignorant policy-lets cut the funding for higher education so that we can train people to be animals.


Meanwhile their fatherless children, stuck in poverty with no education, guidance, or role models, are gearing up to feed the monster again.



I don't mean for this to sound harsh, but the reality of it all truly is.

Towsertunes wrote:

How do you know Danmac,what the total prison population of China or Russia is?
They don't let that information out.
Not to mention Iran and North Korea.

We must idolize them. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

fruth wrote:

The drug problem in th U.S is a direct result of racism aimed at the African American population. Crack and cocaine are esentially the same drug, one mostly used by rich white men, the other used by poor black men. The difference is the punishement for possesion. It's 10 to one. Minimum mandatory possesion of any amount of crack is an automatic 5 years in prison. If a white guy has some coke, he's gonna get a slap on the wrist.But a young black man with a tiny rock will be there for a long time.

Where does the money for these prisons come from, you might ask? The government cuts the funding of schools and colleges to pay for the monsterous prison appetite. So then we have another generation of poor half educated adults who will get sucked into the system. This system is all propelled by politicians who need something to drive their political campaign during an election year. Be tough on crime, be tough on drugs and the sheep like masses of the American population will love you and feed your ballot box.What else would be political motivation for this you might ask? Felons can't vote in the U.S. It's called disenfranchisement. So all the black voices have been silenced. Politicians then say, well we don't have to worry about the black vote because...They can't vote anyway. now we can make all the fat white corporate bastards who fund are campaigns happy, by keeping the poor in their place and giving the rich more tax breaks. Who's going to stop us, we took away their voting rights.


Every drug law ever written down on the books in the U.S. has been racially motivated. Why do you think marijuana has a mexican name? Ever seen old black and white propaganda of the so called "china men" and their evil opium dens, ever heard of the opium wars? Google it, you might learn something.


And the scariest part of Americas so called "War On Drugs". Most of the men who go to prison for drugs have never been convicted of a violent offense. However, 25% of the people who go to prison for a non-violent drug offense are convicted a second time after release for commiting a violent offense. Why is this you might ask? Because of the very nature of prisons themselves, drug addicts are being put away for having a sickness, and while serving an unjust 5 year sentence for possesion they learn to be violent from the murderers, and rapists they are forced to live with. It's ignorant policy-lets cut the funding for higher education so that we can train people to be animals.


Meanwhile their fatherless children, stuck in poverty with no education, guidance, or role models, are gearing up to feed the monster again.



I don't mean for this to sound harsh, but the reality of it all truly is.

This attitude is part of the problem. You are leaving criminals blameless for their actions with this sort of reasoning. While I agree that the drug laws are a mess in this country and should be more reasonable, this does not take away blame from those breaking the laws. Cutting funding in the educational bureaucracy is not to blame for violent offenses. If the children are not being properly educated in this country it is because we are more interested in making sure that they and their parents are not offended at any time. Discipline in schools is an antiquated notion because parents are not told the reality of the problems with their children for fear that that parent may sue the district for mistreating their child. The parents, and now the schools, are in the business of teaching their children that whatever they do, there should be no consequences because it is not their fault. It is always the fault of "the man" and they are all owed something from that "man" that is theirs for the taking.

Towsertunes wrote:

How do you know Danmac,what the total prison population of China or Russia is?
They don't let that information out.
Not to mention Iran and North Korea.

Well over there, the statistics are distorted anyway. Most that even speak out against the govt, are shot on site, so... Imagine stealing? There goes the hands, and while wer'e at it, let's round up the family members for a few more shootings.

Dam, I love these "AMERICA" threads. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

fruth wrote:

Well, I guess are views are just inherently different. I believe that drug addiction is a sickness. Drug offenders need to be in rehab, not prison. I don't see how puting non-violent offenders with violent ones solves any part of the problem.

Drug courts also save $7 dollars to the dollar of the cost of incarceration(RAND CORP). That money could be earmarked for education...and help break the cycle. Yes, people do need to take responsibility for there actions. But locking them up is not the answer.


However, thanks for responding to my post. Since I am a "ghost", I expected silence.

A good viewpoint is a good viewpoint ghost or not

The US approach is off balance to say the least. However what's even worse is that they won't (and don't) admit their mistakes, and they need to take increasingly more drastic measures on society because of it - all to the eventual collapse of their nation. Has anything gotten better in the US in the last 30 years? The US approach to humanity as of late is dead wrong.

The examples of war, destruction, power, money, and greed they set are all wrong. I think the US gov't knows this all very well - too well. And that is what scares me. Let alone all the conspiracy controversy that surrounds them 24/7.

It resembles a communistic dictatorship. i.e. give us your tax dollars now to fund our quest for greed and power over other all other nations, or we will lock you up and take away your very life, and sentence you to a hell with bars.

The US govt needs ease up big time, start using their heads for a change, and take a serious international chill pill.

Oh but they're saving the world....NOT!