US notches world's highest incarceration rate

yellum

US notches world's highest incarceration rate

Nice Article on the new america.

Some nice quotes too:

We have the wealthiest society in human history, and we maintain the highest level of imprisonment.

For the generation of black children today, there's almost an inevitable aspect of going to prison.

So, whats going wrong

bloggs

People blame that there aren't any jobs so people have nothing to do, and thus turn to crime out of a lack of money or the glamour of certain criminal elements.

I think the likes of some Rap artists have a bad influence on young people, as the promote crime and show that only when you have huge amounts of cash, can you be happy. Instead people of influence should be encouraging young people to stay at school, go to university and get a good job.

I think the american idea of a quick fix, is also a problem, as issues like this take a long time and a lot of hard work to resolve.

gom

I always knew that America had the highest rate of incarcerations in the Western World, but 'The WHole World' is rather suprising.

If anything this report simply highlights how Zero-Tolerence just ignores the cause of the crime and simply cleans up the mess off the streets. While a policy of zero-tolerence is highly attractive the sweet-and-inccent swing voter. It is no solution...
The only effective way to lower rates of Criminal Acts is to have a tolerent approach to the problem.

The idea of a Criminal Justice system is to serve society and protect it from harm.

What seems to be happening instead in much of the English Specking world is the opposite. The USA (as highlighted) is approaching a 5% imprisonment(and former) rate for its population. This will disenfranchise much of their already sectarian society. Ireland and the UK too have been following a similar path of Zero-Tolerence. Under the Arms of O'Donnell and McDowell. Ireland has shifted from a fair society to one of Zero-Tolerence.

Tolerence doesn't mean giving smaller sentencing or letting joy-riders go to mondello race park. Tolerence(in a legal sense) simply means treating some crimes less harshly for the better of society and the individuals causing and suffering crime.

After numerous polls on these boards I can safely say that boards.ie people(and there are many of us from all walks of life) would legalise Prostitution, Cannabis and Eutinasia. Tax the First two and regulate them all highly to avoid abuses.

If boards.ie were to reside over the criminal justice system we would see more balanced sentencing(i.e. more though sentences for rape, child abuse, corporate mismanagment, etc..). Coupled with the loss of criminal control on Cannabis and human trafficing for the sex trade, Ireland would be a much more tolerent and acceptant place. Individuals would have many more rights then they do now and perhaps a better society to boot.
Oh! perhaps less work for prison guards

gom

There has never been any credible statistics published in my intellectual lifetime to my knowledge(+google.ie search) that increasing the number of police will result in fewer crimes taking place. The creation of a police state is not a solution to any Crime problem(even a falling one).

From talking to people. Those worried about crime many are suburban dwellers that don't travel much outside the confines of suburbia. They are afraid of crime because they are isolated(be them aware of that fact or more likely, unaware) in suburbia. They have no REAL felling of community.These Suburb-Dwellers view the city centre of dublin as a war zone of crime and chaos only safe to enter on a saturday afternoon for a short shopping trip(early so as not to get in too much traffic). While they may not be wrong about the cc in alot of ways, they are afraid of it.

The unfortunite reality is the majority of Irish people are Suburban Dwellers. Most in the locality of Dublin County. This doesn't mean that because they are in the majority that they are right. It simply means that populist governments are not good at administering Criminal Justice when the vast amount of people are too afraid of everything for their own good

bloggs

I agree with you to an extent, but being less harsh on some crimes, will only encourage them. Take joy riding for example, if people the 'kids' were make sweep the streets, pick up littler, paint over graffiti, and other community related things i think it would make them feel more respect for their area and be less likey to commit more crime.

People 'kids' in jail, for 2 months, where they meet more criminals and don't feel any sort of punishment only makes things worse in my opinion. I think a long stretch of community service is much better than a short prison sentence.

In England they were considering legalising burgulary, as it wasn't a violient crime, this was just stupid. There was also an idea of where the victims meet the criminal, i think this is a good idea, but i am not sure criminals should get time off for it.

gom

Bloggs,

I think you hit the nail on the head for me.
The word 'Tolerence' to most people means 'less time'.
I'm not advicating less time. I'm advicating less crimes.
If less offenses exist less crimes can actually be commited..

Whats the ONLY drug bust u hear about? Cannabis..
The Customs And Excess arm of the Gardi(i.e. DS) could direct all those resources elsewhere on to things much more worrying such as Crack Cocaine for example.

Tolerence could also mean supplying junkys with clean needles and even heroine. Provided that they sign up to a programme to get them off the drug. While these policies have a limited success rate. They do have a success rate as oppose to prison which actually creates much of those junkies on our streets...

Regulation is the catch-phrase i think we need to see more of in this country. Not just in the Telcoms, Electricity and corporate/accounting sectors. But also in the Criminal Justice system and its policy makers.. More Tolerent Legislation that regulates the problem(thus containing and controlling it)...

These are just some examples and not my only advocations

bloggs

Junkies are a victim of soceity, so unless we demand better treatment and better provisions for them, there will be more of them and in turn we will be more likey to become victims.

I think local communities are doing a lot to solve the the problems but with a justice system that is based on the 19th century, things will have to change very soon, if we are to reduce crime.

There is the problem also that legalising certain drugs will cause dealers to push harder ones, and people who used to deal in 'soft' drugs will start selling harder ones, as their greed for money demands. This would have a very bad effect on soceity. But if police resources can be changed to finding and destorying drug dealers then that can only be a good thing.

anyway back on the subject in hand. I think the US is going to continue to have a high prison population as there isn't the political will to try out new ideas.

gom

Originally posted by bloggs

There is the problem also that legalising certain drugs will cause dealers to push harder ones, and people who used to deal in 'soft' drugs will start selling harder ones, as their greed for money demands.

There is no evidence to show this. Recent survys show that young people(16-25) actually WANT to try drugs. The Demand is there for soft drugs. By Legalising them it isn't transfering the demand to harder drugs.
In my opinion Drugs are actually a more pure example of Demand and Supply forces in action than most commodities in the world today.
The Demand is there for Cannabis so the supply is huge


My last off topicism

chill

In a country obsessed with allowing almost any numbscull to have a gun, and not only a gun but an assault rifle - in a country with no time for the concept of rehabilitation - in a country built on the concept of looking after number ONE - it's hardly surprising they lock up more than anyone else.