Incarceration
So people in prison came up today in a discussion. This link was the spark:
http://www.cato.org/images/homepage/incarceration-rates2.png
The data for that link comes from:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps/world-prison-population-list-2005.pdf
The US figures come from:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
More detail is at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p06.htm
So. A few comments. We have a crap load of people in prison. And a lot of people will say, yeah they are all drugs, but they are not. Only 20 percent are for drug related offenses. Violent crime makes up half of it. And you don't want to look at the race stats. It shouldn't be news to anyone who pays attention to current events. But it is always sad to see that 3 percent of the entire black male population in the US is in prison. Hispanics are up there a bit too.
We have as many people sentenced in jail as China. With a fourth or less of the population.
http://www.cato.org/images/homepage/incarceration-rates2.png
The data for that link comes from:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps/world-prison-population-list-2005.pdf
The US figures come from:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
More detail is at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p06.htm
So. A few comments. We have a crap load of people in prison. And a lot of people will say, yeah they are all drugs, but they are not. Only 20 percent are for drug related offenses. Violent crime makes up half of it. And you don't want to look at the race stats. It shouldn't be news to anyone who pays attention to current events. But it is always sad to see that 3 percent of the entire black male population in the US is in prison. Hispanics are up there a bit too.
We have as many people sentenced in jail as China. With a fourth or less of the population.