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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCecil Adams on the high incarceration numbers in the US
From his "The Straight Dope" column:
Dear Cecil:
Ive heard the U.S. has the highest percentage of its population incarcerated of any country in the world. Is there a single crime or category of crime in which we excel that puts us in the top spot? Or are we just better at committing crime across the board? My guess is the war on drugs accounts for much of our prison population. Can you provide a breakdown showing how we've achieved our less-than-enviable position?
Ive heard the U.S. has the highest percentage of its population incarcerated of any country in the world. Is there a single crime or category of crime in which we excel that puts us in the top spot? Or are we just better at committing crime across the board? My guess is the war on drugs accounts for much of our prison population. Can you provide a breakdown showing how we've achieved our less-than-enviable position?
and Cecil replies:
The drug war contributed, but its not the major factor behind our crazy high imprisonment rate. What does explain it then? Ill just say the more you delve into this, the more complicated it gets.
Lets review the incarceration rate, first discussed in this space in 2004. The U.S. currently has more than 321 million people. According to the World Prison Population List, the United States has a total prison population, including pretrial detainees, of 2.24 million. This works out to 716 prisoners per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world.
Lets review the incarceration rate, first discussed in this space in 2004. The U.S. currently has more than 321 million people. According to the World Prison Population List, the United States has a total prison population, including pretrial detainees, of 2.24 million. This works out to 716 prisoners per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world.
Whole article here:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3241/is-any-one-crime-to-blame-for-the-high-u-s-imprisonment-rate?utm_source=Chicago+Reader&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=594146_The+Straight+Dope+08%2f07%2f2015&dm_i=2JCR,CQG2,2KTJUC,TI4K,1
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Cecil Adams on the high incarceration numbers in the US (Original Post)
FSogol
Aug 2015
OP
daleanime
(17,796 posts)1. Bookmarked
FSogol
(45,526 posts)2. The statistics he quotes are eye-opening. n/t
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)3. Look at it this way: Think of all those votes locked up in jail and how they get counted within the
states for Congressional distribution for representation.
hedda_foil
(16,375 posts)4. Hang on ... state laws re voting rights shouldn't affect federal offices.
I don't think there's a federal law restricting current or former prisoners (in state or federal prisons) from voting. There's so much variability from state to state, from allowing them to vote even from prison to denying the vote to everyone who has ever been convicted of a felony.
I wonder if there is a federal law that might be expanded to allow all citizens to vote in Federal elections either through the U.S. justice department or executive order.