4 ms·

Wow this data is going down but look at this: Half of males (50%) and more than half of females (59%) in federal prison were serving time for drug offenses on

Wow this data is going down but look at this: Half of males (50%) and more than half of females (59%) in federal prison were serving time for drug offenses on September 30, 2014.

danielvf 10y ago
That's federal prisons though. Totally different laws, courts, and only about 10% of US prisoners. State prisions and local jails have much smaller percentage of drug charges - about 17% in my state and going down. http://www.doc.sc.gov/pubweb/research/InmatePopulationStatsTrend/ASOFTrendMSOFY11-15.pdf http://www.doc.sc.gov/pubweb/research/InmatePopulationStatsT...
- drawkbox 10y ago
  16% at state level from same source, over 50% at federal level. Probably 20%+ directly and up to 30-40% indirectly related, 1 in 5 to 1 in 3. That is lots and lots of people we are paying for to be somewhere that they maybe weren't violent to begin with but are now, prisons are a criminal making machine. They could be out, or in a program, making a net benefit paying it back rather than a total loss all around. -30k per year minimum per prisoner in tax.
Terr_ 10y ago
If someone is convicted of killing 2 people and also of manufacturing and possession of 5 pounds of meth, do they fall into the same category of "serving time for drug offenses"? I think the category people are actually interested in is how many people are incarcerated for only drug-offenses and only minor (possession, not drug-kingpin) ones.
- drawkbox 10y ago
  If someone killed two people they go for the murder charge I am sure of it. Nothing wrong with locking up murderers as it is violent. The above stats are current prisoner charges, my assumption is murderers wouldn't be out to get a charge by making meth. But who knows they seem to be harder on drugs than real violent crime at times (80s especially right after the DEA was created by Nixon in '75).
- mindslight 10y ago
  In a sane society, a "drug kingpin" is called an "entrepreneur".
mindslight 10y ago
That's seriously fucked up in light of federal drug laws being blatantly unconstitutional everywhere but DC. Occupation government, indeed.

Wow this data is going down but look at this: Half of males (50%) and more than half of females (59%) in federal prison were serving time for drug offenses on September 30, 2014.

danielvf 10y ago

That's federal prisons though. Totally different laws, courts, and only about 10% of US prisoners. State prisions and local jails have much smaller percentage of drug charges - about 17% in my state and going down. http://www.doc.sc.gov/pubweb/research/InmatePopulationStatsTrend/ASOFTrendMSOFY11-15.pdf http://www.doc.sc.gov/pubweb/research/InmatePopulationStatsT...

drawkbox 10y ago
16% at state level from same source, over 50% at federal level. Probably 20%+ directly and up to 30-40% indirectly related, 1 in 5 to 1 in 3. That is lots and lots of people we are paying for to be somewhere that they maybe weren't violent to begin with but are now, prisons are a criminal making machine. They could be out, or in a program, making a net benefit paying it back rather than a total loss all around. -30k per year minimum per prisoner in tax.

Terr_ 10y ago

If someone is convicted of killing 2 people and also of manufacturing and possession of 5 pounds of meth, do they fall into the same category of "serving time for drug offenses"? I think the category people are actually interested in is how many people are incarcerated for only drug-offenses and only minor (possession, not drug-kingpin) ones.

drawkbox 10y ago
If someone killed two people they go for the murder charge I am sure of it. Nothing wrong with locking up murderers as it is violent. The above stats are current prisoner charges, my assumption is murderers wouldn't be out to get a charge by making meth. But who knows they seem to be harder on drugs than real violent crime at times (80s especially right after the DEA was created by Nixon in '75).
mindslight 10y ago
In a sane society, a "drug kingpin" is called an "entrepreneur".

mindslight 10y ago

That's seriously fucked up in light of federal drug laws being blatantly unconstitutional everywhere but DC. Occupation government, indeed.