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The '3 strikes and you're out' laws that many states enacted are partly to blame. Many people in jail aren't hardened, dangerous criminals but are drug addicts and petty, non-violent criminals.
Cause freedom = incarcerating as many people as you want and making as many laws criminalizing behavior as much as possible. What is it, half of all prisoners today are in prison because of drug possession?
ELECT Ron Paul and shrink government and watch a lot of those gestapo laws evaporate and the costs to American's to house them decrease.
a majority of prisoners today are drug related rimes, mostly minor possession charges, and drunk drivers that committed crimes like vehicular manslaughter and such.
we also have a problem where prison is comparatively not a bad place to go, especially compared to other countries. for instance prison in america is like being at home, just that you are not able to leave anytime you like. a mexican prison on the other hand is a place you want to avoid like the plague.
also dont forget that those statistics are somewhat skewed in that we have a lot of people in for short terms, less than a year in most cases.
one more thing, since the late 50s our society has become far more permissive in what is considered acceptable behavior, and as such criminal activity has increased until recently.
Violent crime was not responsible for the quadrupling of the incarcerated population in the United States from 1980 to 2003. Violent crime rates had been relatively constant or declining over those decades. The prison population was increased primarily by public policy changes causing more prison sentences and lengthening time served, e.g. through mandatory minimum sentencing, "three strikes" laws, and reductions in the availability of parole or early release. These policies were championed as protecting the public from serious and violent offenders, but instead yielded high rates of confinement for nonviolent offenders. Nearly three quarters of new admissions to state prison were convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Is America so great because so many of its people are in prison or
is America not so great, because so many of its people are in prison?
And it got me to thinking.....
Would America be even greater if more or less people were in prison?
Quick... what's any reason you can think of where having your nation's people incarcerated should be a profitable capitalist venture. Not "could be" ... "Should be." CCA announces $42.4M profit - Nashville Business Journal
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You know, I'm not a world traveler by a long shot, but I've been to a few countries, here and there. They're not on fire...well, If you don't count Iraq, and they don't have as many people in jail as we do. I think it's weird that America has so many criminals. It's like we're the Land of Evil People.
WAR on DRUGS ring a bell, the vast majority of Americans in prison are in there for drug related crimes. End the war and watch the numbers drop.
Casper
WAR on DRUGS ring a bell, the vast majority of Americans in prison are in there for drug related crimes. End the war and watch the numbers drop.
Casper
If the war on drugs is stopped, they will still be illegal and people will still go to jail for it. Have you ever looked at the fact that drug dealers could be put in jail for tax evasion?
No, it's not just the "War on Drugs" It's also the modren American witch-hunt on "sex offenders"
Look at what can get a person classified in many states as a sex offender...mooning, streaking, flashing,peeing behind a bush, changing clothes in your car, sex in a public place and on and on. So we take these people and either lock them up or have them on probation where they have to pay a fee for everything. So much time, money and such spent on non-dangerous people who along with their families are made almost destitute because of all the associated laws...and meanwhile, people like the guy who kidnapped Jaycee Duggard aren't caught for decades because the registry is soooo muddied.
Not only that, but once you're accused of a sex offense it's almost impossible to defend against, even if you're innocent. Many states have a clause that there needs be no evidence other than the accuser's testimony if the accuser/"victim" is 13 yrs. or under OR claimed it happened when they were 13 or younger...how do defend against a claim that somethng happened 20 yrs ago?
So many of the freedoms we hold dear are thrown right out the window when it comes to those accused/convicted of a sex offense...once TPTB can do that to one group, it won't be long before it starts with other groups.
Oops. I've done those in bolded when I was a bit younger. Peeing in the bushes is the absolute most ridiculous one! Anyone ever tailgate at a football game, and have to pee, but there are no bathrooms? Back in the day when we would party in the Flats (an old party district in downtown Cleveland) we would have to park so damn far from the clubs and end up having to pee behind a dumpster in one of the lots, as we were so far away, and the lines to get in the clubs were long too. I Actually got caught once in the park doing "you know what" in the car with a girl that I was dating. We were both adults. But we were in one of my town's local parks after dark, and well... you know... one thing led to another... At any rate we saw the lights come up the hill so we stopped what we were doing (that sucks). The cop comes up shining the light, asking what we were doing. I was like "oh just hanging out" No pun intended! He says to me "the park closes at dusk, didn't you see the sign?" I was like "what sign?" Of course I saw it, but I played dumb. Anyway, he runs our ids then comes back and says "before you leave would you mind picking up your trash off the ground?" I was like "what are you talking about?" He points down to the ground and low and behold it's part of the Trojan wrapper! I picked it up, and he told us "to get on your way, and have a nice day!" I thought for sure we were in deep s***! Then again, we weren't under the influence either, so that may have played a role in him letting us go. Or maybe he felt we were embarrassed enough, and didn't want to bother with the paperwork.
I'm older and married with a family now, so I'm nowhere near as daring. But things like peeing in the bushes, sex in public, mooning...ect certainly do not warrant someone being labeled a sexual predator! Reserve that for the true predators, such as child molesters, rapists, those involved in the sex trade....ect...
If America is so great, why are so many of its people in Jail?
Welcome to the police state.
I vividly recall when I was in HS (decades ago) a class discussion where the teacher pointed out that one of the reasons America was SO much better than Red China or the Soviet Union was that they had such huge prison populations.
Today, we have more prisoners than both of those two combined. And the current insane obsession with "privatization" is now making incarceration a profit center for insider political cronies who get contracts to erect "private" prisons. Heck, when I was in college there was no such thing as a "criminal justice" major.
I vividly recall when I was in HS (decades ago) a class discussion where the teacher pointed out that one of the reasons America was SO much better than Red China or the Soviet Union was that they had such huge prison populations.
Today, we have more prisoners than both of those two combined. And the current insane obsession with "privatization" is now making incarceration a profit center for insider political cronies who get contracts to erect "private" prisons. Heck, when I was in college there was no such thing as a "criminal justice" major.
We're slipping...
I remember being taught that as well
We were told, "We are the freest country in the world, and look at Communist China with all the people in jail to see how they fare"
Yup, look at us now indeed.
Rather than look critically at our laws and policies, we say, bah who cares, their criminals.
Its easier that way and alleviates ones conscious. So their all criminals in the USA, and it was because of communism in China, nice, neat and easy way out.
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). The cop comes up shining the light, asking what we were doing. I was like "oh just hanging out" No pun intended!
He says to me "the park closes at dusk, didn't you see the sign?" I was like "what sign?" Of course I saw it, but I played dumb. Anyway, he runs our ids then comes back and says "before you leave would you mind picking up your trash off the ground?" I was like "what are you talking about?" He points down to the ground and low and behold it's part of the Trojan wrapper!
I picked it up, and he told us "to get on your way, and have a nice day!" I thought for sure we were in deep s***! Then again, we weren't under the influence either, so that may have played a role in him letting us go. Or maybe he felt we were embarrassed enough, and didn't want to bother with the paperwork. 
If America is so great, why are so many of its people in Jail?
