David Brooks recently did a column on incarceration rates. It's a useful column because it cites facts. He reports that the clear cause of increased incarcerat

David Brooks recently did a column on incarceration rates. It's a useful column because it cites facts. He reports that the clear cause of increased incarceration is this: prosecutors now bring charges against two out of every three people arrested. That's double the charge rate from 20 years ago. Brooks states that he doesn't know why the change has occurred, and reports some of the theories he has heard. One of the facts he cites is that just 20% of incarcerations are from drug charges. He dismisses that as not the cause, which is plainly correct. I would nitpick and say that it is a potential contributing factor worth examining more closely to see how much of that 20% is due to less-serious charges. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/opinion/david-brooks-the-prison-problem.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/opinion/david-brooks-the-p...