Are us-americans criminals?

[lunakilo]

I just stumbled on to the following wiki-page: Prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just find it strange that there are so many people in prison in the usa compared to the rest of the western world.
Why is there such a big difference?

 

[Copernicus]

You don't understand, Lunakilo. We Americans are Number One in everything. Our criminals get the best education in expensive government-run institutions. Those prisons are where they go to get educated for their later careers as even more effective criminals, once they get graduated. After that, they get free tax-funded health care in hospital emergency rooms, where they go to recover from gunshot wounds made by all our top quality guns that get stolen from law-abiding citizens that buy them to defend themselves against all the criminals. It all works out in the end, and that is why we never default on our debts.

 

[lunakilo]

You don't understand, Lunakilo. We Americans are Number One in everything. Our criminals get the best education in expensive government-run institutions. Those prisons are where they go to get educated for their later careers as even more effective criminals, once they get graduated. After that, they get free tax-funded health care in hospital emergency rooms, where they go to recover from gunshot wounds made by all our top quality guns that get stolen from law-abiding citizens that buy them to defend themselves against all the criminals. It all works out in the end, and that is why we never default on our debts.

:biglaugh:
A well designed system I see.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I would suggest it is because there are so many mandatory crimes that entail life ore long sentences. Also the three counts and you are out policy can not help.

Criminality is the business / libertarian ethic taken to logical extreme.

 

[Many Sages One Truth]

I think because US prisons don't really address the deeper rooted psychological issues that lead many to commit crimes in the first place. Often in the US a prisoner comes out of prison 10 times worse then they went in, just because of the prison environment, gang wars, and the like. The US might not be the only country with a flawed prison system, but nevertheless it is flawed.

 

[lunakilo]

The US might not be the only country with a flawed prison system, but nevertheless it is flawed.

But '5 times more flawed' than for example Germany!

I can understand that a bad prison system will have an effect on how many people end up in prison again when they are released, but the difference is bigger than I would have thought.

I don't think the average person in the us is more or less criminal than in the rest of the world.
Are the sentences on average longer than in the rest of the western world?
Are people put in prison for smaller crimes than in the rest of the western world?

 

[Sunstone]

There seem to be two primary factors driving the high prison population in the US. One is the war on drugs. And second is the political lobby of the private prison companies -- a lobby that encourages the expansion of the war on drugs in order to make a profit.

 

[sandandfoam]

I can't help but recall the thread about the terrible Gypsies.
Seems I should be more afraid of Americans

 

[Father Heathen]

I would suggest it is because there are so many mandatory crimes that entail life ore long sentences. Also the three counts and you are out policy can not help.

Criminality is the business / libertarian ethic taken to logical extreme.

Many people are locked up for victimless crimes such as those relating to cannabis and prostitution. There's obviously nothing at all libertarian about that. The proper definition of "libertarianism" has already been explained to you before, so if you don't want to look like a fool I suggest you stop misusing it.

 

[Father Heathen]

I can't help but recall the thread about the terrible Gypsies.
Seems I should be more afraid of Americans

You might have a point if American culture was homogenous. Crime in the U.S. has a lot to do with socioeconomic issues within certain demographics (such as the cultural aspect of gangs involved in the drug trade within inner city ghettos), excessive sentencing for petty crimes, and repeat offenders due to failed rehabilitation.

 

[sandandfoam]

You might have a point if American culture was homogenous. Crime in the U.S. has a lot to do with socioeconomic issues within certain demographics (such as the cultural aspect of gangs involved in the drug trade within inner city ghettos), excessive sentencing for petty crimes, and repeat offenders due to failed rehabilitation.

Well I've seen ye on telly. Sex crazed drug addicts and maniacs. With guns. And big cars.
Scary bunch. Running around the place invading countries and listening to devil music.

Lucky that apart from the wars ye don't travel.

 

[Father Heathen]

Well I've seen ye on telly. Sex crazed drug addicts and maniacs. With guns. And big cars.
Scary bunch. Running around the place invading countries and listening to devil music.

Lucky that apart from the wars ye don't travel.

The thing about many Americans not traveling outside of the country is that we don't have the advantage of being a bunch of tiny countries clustered together. It's an issue of distance and expense.

 

[lunakilo]

The thing about many Americans not traveling outside of the country is that we don't have the advantage of being a bunch of tiny countries clustered together. It's an issue of distance and expense.

You probably have a point there.

I can travel to my neighboring country Sweden (in less than an hour) so traveling outside my own country is easy, but I am 38 and I have left Europe 4 times in my life. So once a decade or so .

 

[Kathryn]

I would suggest it is because there are so many mandatory crimes that entail life ore long sentences. Also the three counts and you are out policy can not help.

Criminality is the business / libertarian ethic taken to logical extreme.

A high incarceration rate is the absolute OPPOSITE of libertarian ethics. Libertarians really don't care what consenting adults do, as long as doing it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, and as long as they don't insist that others subsidize their activities.

Most of the crimes in the US which people are incarcerated for involve illegal drugs.

Incarceration in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kathryn]

Well I've seen ye on telly. Sex crazed drug addicts and maniacs. With guns. And big cars.
Scary bunch. Running around the place invading countries and listening to devil music.

Lucky that apart from the wars ye don't travel.

Don't believe everything you see on TV.

As has been stated, in the US there are pockets of high crime, concentrated in certain socioeconomic groups and areas. The vast majority of our beautiful and diverse country is very safe with low crime rates, especially when it comes to violent crime. In fact, violent crime has gone down slowly each decade.

The "war on drugs" is the biggest factor in our high incarceration rate. As a US citizen who is not at all involved in anything related to illegal drugs, I live my life peacefully and frankly don't much worry about crime. I mean, I use common sense like locking my doors at night, parking in a well lit area, and that sort of thing, but I am not living in fear.

Oh, and Americans travel quite a bit. In fact, I just got back from Europe, and two good friends of mine are headed there before summer ends. We do, however, have a lot of vacation spots we can enjoy within our own borders - we are a huge and very diverse country with all sorts of very interesting sights. It would take a lifetime to truly travel through and savor all our own country has to offer.

 

[Tarheeler]

Many people are locked up for victimless crimes such as those relating to cannabis and prostitution. .....

This.

We just love to throw people in prision for crimes that shouldn't be crimes.
Add in the fact that we fail at rehabilitation and have a subculture that often promotes crime, and our large prision population isn't really all that surprising.

 

[Yeshe Dawa]

I just stumbled on to the following wiki-page: Prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just find it strange that there are so many people in prison in the usa compared to the rest of the western world.
Why is there such a big difference?

Hi Lunakilo!

My personal thoughts are that it has something to do with economic inequality. Here is a link to another map similar to yours: File:Gini Coefficient World CIA Report 2009.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Germany is a very pretty blue and, like your map, the U.S. is again very red.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:

 

[Reverend Rick]

America is so big and diverse, you cannot make an all exclusive statement about any one of us.

We have wonderful places and hell holes. We have rich and poor. We have law abiding folks and lawless ones. We have Liberals, Conservatives, and Moderates.

We are religious, non- religious, and have people of many faiths.

It can be the best place on earth or the worst depending on your outlook.

When you have so many different groups, there will be conflict and many times folks go to prison.

Drugs are the biggest problem. Our war on drugs has failed. We have only ourselves to blame.

 

[Revoltingest]

There seem to be two primary factors driving the high prison population in the US. One is the war on drugs. And second is the political lobby of the private prison companies -- a lobby that encourages the expansion of the war on drugs in order to make a profit.

Trying to blame your olde nemeses of capitalism & free markets, eh? Artfully dodging culpability
of government which has such power & size, plus the desire to use both against the populace again?

We have a horribly failed war on drugs, which not only has it's jack boot on the necks of the poor in this country, but also corrupts other countries near & far.
We have both political parties pushing our march to a police state with ever more regulation of our lives. Among the low lifes with whom I associate, it's clear
that government loves to threaten, fine & prosecute with no thought to unintended consequences or civilized alternatives to imprisonment. Courts, cops &
incarceration are big business....big government business. Politicians & aparatchiks love to trumpet being all law & order. They love the money, power &
gigantic empire of the system. I see thru your lame attempt to exculpate the authoritarian commie agenda, buster!

We have leaders asleep at the wheel of a speeding turbo-charged 18 wheeler headed towards the cliff on the far side of the guardrail.
Time to pull the plug people! Dump the status quo! Vote the scoundrels out of office! Vote for Revol....er....anyone but Dems & Pubs!

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

A high incarceration rate is the absolute OPPOSITE of libertarian ethics. Libertarians really don't care what consenting adults do, as long as doing it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, and as long as they don't insist that others subsidize their activities.

Most of the crimes in the US which people are incarcerated for involve illegal drugs.

Incarceration in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exactly ... take that to the extreme and many consenting adults go over the bounds of criminality. They do not see that laws apply to them. this is what I mean by Libertarianism taken to the extreme... it is anarchy.