Land of The Free (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

I'm sure that all the children, widows and parents of Brit and other European soldiers who've died supporting US forces in two Gulf wars would roll around laughing if they read that.

Back on topic - as for the greater numbers of prisoners, there are several mundane reasons:

(1) greater general prosperity means there is more to steal. I don't know about the USA, but in the UK something you often hear from old folks is how in the old days everyone left their doors unlocked. There was a simple reason why - apart from the fact that more people were at home (particularly women) making thefts harder, there was nothing worth stealing.
(2) countries like the USA and to almost the same degree the UK and other affluent European countries can afford better CSI units and hence catch more criminals (even allowing for the poor clear up rate for many crimes)
(3) drugs - the greater availability of drugs (in part tied to much better international transportation) means that there is a greater need for people to steal (to maintain their habit). If I recall the stats correctly, at least 60% of inmates have drug addiction of one form or another.

 

[Dennis]

This is like Pin the Tail on the Donkey except the winner gets the thread closed.


There are lots of ways of curing society's ills. We can bring down crime, feed the hungry, house the homeless, cure the sick, all within our own borders. Does anyone think it's not possible? Education, family and good health should be the top priorities after making a decent living, they're not mutually exclusive.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

It was a joke...does anyone even say "eurotrash" anymore. And it had nothing to do with US-British-European alliances Read it again.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Ha ha.

Now let's drop the subject.

 

[JeremyErwin]

To be truly rich, others must be poor. To be truly free, others must be in cages. To be truly happy, others must be tortured.

 

[Holadem]

Geez Andrew, with all the ribbing you give the US (and rightly so), I expected thicker skin from ya.

--
H

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> something you often hear from old folks is how in the old days everyone left their doors unlocked. There was a simple reason why - apart from the fact that more people were at home (particularly women) making thefts harder, there was nothing worth stealing.

I think the reason was more that people were less likely to steal back then. Nobody I've known from that era has used the explanation you do.

 

[Eric_L]

Sum=0

 

[Dick]

Good thread, everyone. IMHO, a great method for cutting wa-y-y back on the incarceration factor, which is costing taxpayers billions, is to demand restitution rather than imprisonment for non-violent criminals. This would help fund the terms of those who really need to be behind bars. Right now, restitution is kind of arbitrary, anything but consistent. Non-violent criminals needn't be in prison (where they might well become abused, embittered and desperate, and eventually dangerous) - they are not earning their way in there. They need to be out, working to make money to pay back their victims (if any) and their home states or whatever. The mandatory sentences for those caught with illicit drugs are frequently draconian; white collar criminals are not generally physically violent - they should be sentenced to a meaningful period of community service. By keeping them and drug users (as opposed to dealers, who need to be sequestered from society for a time) out of prison, what an incredible difference would occur within the prison system! But, as prisons are profitable institutions and many jobs rely on their being not only filled but overcrowded, we will continue to build more and throw good money after bad in the fruitless (frankly, irrational) effort to incarcerate anyone who has committed virtually any type of crime.