Crime Down but Prison Population Exploding - Related to Privatization?

[NAO]

It is very odd indeed that although the crime rate is down, the prison population is steadily increasing. I was shocked to see HOW far the US was ahead of other nations in imprisoning people (see stats in excerpt below).

There has been a huge trend in the US to privatize the prison system. It has become a major growth industry with very high profitability. I am starting to strongly suspect that there is a correlation here.

The privatization of the prison system is just another way that wealth is transfered from working people to the "ownership class". Our work is taxed, and then they money is payed to private companies to incarcerate "undesirables".

U.S. Prison Population, World's Highest, Up Again
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8274699

excerpt

"The United States has incarcerated 726 people per 100,000 of its population, seven to 10 times as many as most other democracies. The rate for England is 142 per 100,000, for France 91 and for Japan 58..."

"According to the Justice Department, violent crime in the United States fell by over 33 percent from 1994 to 2003 and property crimes fell by 23 percent."

[TreasonousBastard]

1. It's been this way for years...

we've always had the highest crime and incarceration rates for developed countries, and it doesn't seem to track with prison privatization. Lots of books and articles have been written about our lawlesslness, and I don't have the space to go into the hundred or so theories here.

One argument made is that crime is going down BECAUSE we have all these people in the slam. I don't buy this for a lot of reasons, but it does make sense that if you keep rounding up people who MAY commit a crime, there will be less crime.

Doh!

Look at why they're in jail, though. Over half are in for petty crimes and low-level street drug stuff. Prostitution, drunken driving... What the hell was Martha Stewart doing in the slam anyway? People like her add to the numbers.

Sentences are longer now, too. Thanks to 3 strike laws and other legislator's habits of looking tough on crime by extending sentences for stupid stuff, fewer people are getting out while more are coming in, raising the prison population rate.

And, last but not least, look at the racial makeup of prisoners. Hispanics are fast catching up, but guess who's number one. I don't for a minute buy into blacks being more prone to crime, but they sure seem to get caught at it a lot more than anyone else. And get sentenced longer.

[EVDebs]

2. Isn't it mainly drug offenders ? n/t

[thecai]

3. Incarcerating American's Is Highly Profitable

Most prisons are self-supporting, while our taxes pay $23,000-$50,000 per inmate, per year, depending on which State you live in.
edit: multiply that by 20,000 innocent and wrongfully convicted each year to understand more wasted tax dollars.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. It's due to things like "three strikes and you're out" or mandatory

minimum sentencing, not to mention all the drug arrests.