Does the United States lead the world in prison population?

[Brutuskend]

Dear Cecil:

What with the new war on terror and the ongoing war on drugs, I've heard a lot of people make the claim that the United States has incarcerated a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country in history. To me, this claim seems tenuous at best. What about countries such as China, the USSR, and Germany during the mid-20th century? Perhaps the jail population would be low, but with all of the secret detainments and labor camps, the actual total would be more befitting of the all-time title. --Shawn Hatfield, via the Internet

Answer

Cecil replies:

Your skepticism is well-placed. The U.S. certainly doesn't have the highest incarceration rate in world history, and depending on whose figures you believe may not even have the highest rate now. However, to be honest, we're more competitive than you might care to hear.

 

[gistech1978]

i think if you look at per capita, yes we are leading the world
hopefully not in total population though.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Originally posted by: gistech1978
i think if you look at per capita, yes we are leading the world
hopefully not in total population though.

According to Oz we lead in total population too.

 

[TheGameIs21]

The answer is Yes. The Unisted States has the largest polulation of REPORTED prison inmates.

I think that there are many countries where there are very poor (if not non existant) reports of prisoners. I also would include slaves in some countries like Saudi and United Emerates etc... ( I only use those 2 countries here because I know for a fact that they have a HUGE population of slaves)

 

[Double Trouble]

Yes, according to official statistics, but probably not when you compare the numbers to real prisoner numbers from various regimes around the world. Still, the fact that the only countries in the world that might have more people in prison (per capita or total) are 'rogue' nations or 'regimes' led by dictators or otherwise oppresive leaders is a pretty bad commentary on our society. I'm sure one could debate the causes and potential solutions ad infinitum, but the fact is that there are more people in jail here than in any other civilized country on earth, both in absolute numbers as well as per capita.

 

[StageLeft]

The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

 

[Alkaline5]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

Can we send them to your house to be reformed instead?

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

I love that idea. Instead of incarcerating criminals, we should just execute them.

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: Alkaline5

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

Can we send them to your house to be reformed instead?

Mrs Skoorb is not going to be pleased

 

[Booster]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

Hey man... they say, never say you won't be in prison or poor (something close to that). We can all wake up in jail tomorrow, noone is guaranteed against that. That's normal life even if you're a jail bird, and there are normal people there, just like you and me, maybe they made some wrong move, but that's about it, someday we can make it too.

 

[freegeeks]

Originally posted by: XZeroII

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The US fails to realize that the only way to truly eliminate the recidivism rate is to ban the use of prisons.

I love that idea. Instead of incarcerating criminals, we should just execute them.

yeah, like in China

shoot them in the neck and bill the bullet to the family

that was $1 - taxes are included

 

[NightCrawler]

I figure 10% of the population belongs in prison, that way the other 90% can live in peace.

 

[Kipper]

That's still a lot of people, not to mention that many of these prisons are understaffed, underfunded, overcrowded, and have conditions which have been cited by multiple human rights organizations as violations of basic human rights.

...The problem, as I see it, is not that crime is getting worse but rather that sentencing guidelines are far too strict. It makes no sense to put a drug user behind bars for twenty years when someone guilty of a more violent crime is getting less time, for instance.

 

[FoBoT]

we're #1 !
we're #1 !
we're #1 !


oh, wait...

we aren't #1 ?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

George had a great idea how to control the prison population, make it more of a deterrant to crime AND balence the budget all in one step!

 

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
That's still a lot of people, not to mention that many of these prisons are understaffed, underfunded, overcrowded, and have conditions which have been cited by multiple human rights organizations as violations of basic human rights.

...The problem, as I see it, is not that crime is getting worse but rather that sentencing guidelines are far too strict. It makes no sense to put a drug user behind bars for twenty years when someone guilty of a more violent crime is getting less time, for instance.

I think you hit it almost dead on. The legislators are creating these "mandatory" sentences, which is within their right, as its part of the checks and balances system. However, they are taking away the power of the judges to give lighter sentences, even if a person might be deserving of it because of those laws. The judges, most know what they are doing, are crying foul and the public still demands the courts and legislator, to "lock um up and throw away the key."