4 ms·

I find it funny you're being downvoted, as if people just don't like hearing the truth. America houses more prisoners than any country in the world (around 2.4

I find it funny you're being downvoted, as if people just don't like hearing the truth. America houses more prisoners than any country in the world (around 2.4 Million). More than both China and Brazil combined, the next two highest (Brazil has recently beat out Russia for third highest prison population). To give some comparison, the combined population of China and Brazil is 1.6 Billion, compared to America's 326 Million. About one in three Americans has a criminal record. http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Americans-with-Criminal-Records-Poverty-and-Opportunity-Profile.pdf http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/...

jernfrost 8y ago
Holy crap!!! 1/3rd that is insane. What is that not a bigger topic? I guess that explains that the first time ever I met anybody who had been in prison was when I moved to the US (I had enough after a year and went back. Got too much police state vibes). Don't get me wrong. There are LOTS of things I love about the US. The country fascinates me immensely. There are many things Americans can be proud of. I just wish there was more acceptance towards the idea that the US is in fact quite flawed and not miles ahead of everybody else in freedom as they like to portray it. It almost feels a bit insulting when you interact with Americans and they just assume you live in a dictatorship, because hey only Americans have freedom. That mindset can't be by an accident. It must be from the constant harping on in school and in public about how amazing and free the US is.
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  It's not a big topic because systemic racism and political and social neglect have made it normal. The simplest way to look at it is this. Some minorities in this country have been forced to be poor due to a combination of social and state-sanctioned actions accumulated for a century or two. People in poverty often end up associated with crime and drug use. As a massive amount of cheap, highly addictive illegal drugs pours into poor areas, crime and drug use climbs. The political system decides that the solution is to punish people more, the thinking apparently being that punishing them harsher will somehow alleviate the source of the crime and drugs: poverty. So the minorities targeted by racist policies, mainly poor black people, get locked up 6x more than anyone else. When they get out of jail, they have even fewer opportunities to make a living. The end result is a cycle of poverty, crime, prison, poverty, crime, prison. To address this, you basically have to state that 1) America is deeply affected by systemic racism, 2) Politicians sentenced poor people to languish in prison rather than help them rise out of poverty, 3) Our citizens don't care much about each other. It's very easy to ignore a big problem like our insane prison problem when the people affected don't live in your community or they're locked up in prison. The poor black communities who are affected have become completely normalized to it; every black person I know has a member of their family who has been to or is in prison. Even though keeping people in prison costs us tens of billions of dollars, and continues a revolving door of poor people, new prisoners, crime, illegal drugs, and racism, we refuse to address the problem. We will continue to do so as long as we refuse to look hard at our own complicity.
d0lph 8y ago
Probably because America is not a contiguous demographic where they back every action the country makes. And also he seems to give a free pass to Russia and China, and in terms of human rights... I would say the US is streets ahead.
zeveb 8y ago
> About one in three Americans has a criminal record. Are the laws in America unjust? Do they make criminal behaviour which in other nations would be legal? Are the police & justice system in America more effective, in finding & punishing criminals? Or are Americans more criminal than residents of other nations? Only the first of those points to a problem of the American system; the second, if true, is a good thing; the last points to a problem of Americans.
- zeveb 8y ago
  I do wish folks had indicated why they disagreed.

jernfrost 8y ago

Holy crap!!! 1/3rd that is insane. What is that not a bigger topic? I guess that explains that the first time ever I met anybody who had been in prison was when I moved to the US (I had enough after a year and went back. Got too much police state vibes). Don't get me wrong. There are LOTS of things I love about the US. The country fascinates me immensely. There are many things Americans can be proud of. I just wish there was more acceptance towards the idea that the US is in fact quite flawed and not miles ahead of everybody else in freedom as they like to portray it. It almost feels a bit insulting when you interact with Americans and they just assume you live in a dictatorship, because hey only Americans have freedom. That mindset can't be by an accident. It must be from the constant harping on in school and in public about how amazing and free the US is.

peterwwillis 8y ago
It's not a big topic because systemic racism and political and social neglect have made it normal. The simplest way to look at it is this. Some minorities in this country have been forced to be poor due to a combination of social and state-sanctioned actions accumulated for a century or two. People in poverty often end up associated with crime and drug use. As a massive amount of cheap, highly addictive illegal drugs pours into poor areas, crime and drug use climbs. The political system decides that the solution is to punish people more, the thinking apparently being that punishing them harsher will somehow alleviate the source of the crime and drugs: poverty. So the minorities targeted by racist policies, mainly poor black people, get locked up 6x more than anyone else. When they get out of jail, they have even fewer opportunities to make a living. The end result is a cycle of poverty, crime, prison, poverty, crime, prison. To address this, you basically have to state that 1) America is deeply affected by systemic racism, 2) Politicians sentenced poor people to languish in prison rather than help them rise out of poverty, 3) Our citizens don't care much about each other. It's very easy to ignore a big problem like our insane prison problem when the people affected don't live in your community or they're locked up in prison. The poor black communities who are affected have become completely normalized to it; every black person I know has a member of their family who has been to or is in prison. Even though keeping people in prison costs us tens of billions of dollars, and continues a revolving door of poor people, new prisoners, crime, illegal drugs, and racism, we refuse to address the problem. We will continue to do so as long as we refuse to look hard at our own complicity.

d0lph 8y ago

Probably because America is not a contiguous demographic where they back every action the country makes. And also he seems to give a free pass to Russia and China, and in terms of human rights... I would say the US is streets ahead.

zeveb 8y ago

> About one in three Americans has a criminal record. Are the laws in America unjust? Do they make criminal behaviour which in other nations would be legal? Are the police & justice system in America more effective, in finding & punishing criminals? Or are Americans more criminal than residents of other nations? Only the first of those points to a problem of the American system; the second, if true, is a good thing; the last points to a problem of Americans.

zeveb 8y ago
I do wish folks had indicated why they disagreed.