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Why do you think that a lot more Americans end up in prison compared to say Norwegians ? Is it culture ?

by thewarrior 6y ago

mberning 6y ago
Destruction of the family unit. Lack of economic opportunities. And many sub-cultures that glorify and fetishize crime.
- thewarrior 6y ago
  Don’t the three factors you list all feed into each other ? I recently found a shocking statistic that the lifetime probability for a black man to go to prison is 30 %. That directly leads to social breakdown and lack of economic opportunities. This directly leads to crime being seen as the way out. Jailing more and more people is a death spiral. Not even getting into the issues of prisons being run as for profit institutions that can use prisoners as slave labor. Or that prisoners can have their voting rights removed. Or that all this disproportionately falls on certain groups.
  - mberning 6y ago
    I think it is safe to assume that they do and have a synergistic effect with pumping people into the criminal justice system. And I do think there is plenty of reform, such as eliminating a for profit motive in incarceration. But putting 100% of the focus and onus on reforming the system is never going to give us the results we want. By the time people have done enough crime to end up on parole or in prison very few are coming back. We need to resolve some of the deeper issues, and they are not easy to solve. How can the government force a family to stay together? They can’t. But they could address lack of economic opportunities. As we know finances are one of the main drivers of failed relationships and homes. We have to admit to ourselves that not every person is cut out for college or a desk job. These people need meaningful work. Instead we export those jobs and import the misery.
    - thewarrior 6y ago
      I’m not an American but I think it’s not fair to focus on the jobs being exporting rather than the people doing the exporting. There’s no shortage of funding for wars. Wars in the Middle East have cost 5-10 trillion as per various estimates. There are trillions of dollars held abroad in tax havens that the government is too afraid to touch. America has enough money to give every family high quality education, college, daycare and welfare Cheques.
      - mberning 6y ago
        I agree on the endless overseas misadventures. As far as the economics go, the government makes it easy to crush the blue collar working class. I do not fault the business for doing what they do when the government makes it so very easy for them. My idea would be to come up with a metric like the human development index and use that to calculate the tariff placed on goods produced in other countries. Obviously countries which abuse labor and do not respect human rights, such as China, would face a huge tariff. A country such as Canada would face little or no tariff. I completely disagree with putting people on welfare. It should be there as a safety net, not a lifestyle. People will be much happier and less prone to engage in crime of if they are occupied in gainful employment.

Why do you think that a lot more Americans end up in prison compared to say Norwegians ? Is it culture ?

mberning 6y ago

Destruction of the family unit. Lack of economic opportunities. And many sub-cultures that glorify and fetishize crime.

thewarrior 6y ago
Don’t the three factors you list all feed into each other ? I recently found a shocking statistic that the lifetime probability for a black man to go to prison is 30 %. That directly leads to social breakdown and lack of economic opportunities. This directly leads to crime being seen as the way out. Jailing more and more people is a death spiral. Not even getting into the issues of prisons being run as for profit institutions that can use prisoners as slave labor. Or that prisoners can have their voting rights removed. Or that all this disproportionately falls on certain groups.
- mberning 6y ago
  I think it is safe to assume that they do and have a synergistic effect with pumping people into the criminal justice system. And I do think there is plenty of reform, such as eliminating a for profit motive in incarceration. But putting 100% of the focus and onus on reforming the system is never going to give us the results we want. By the time people have done enough crime to end up on parole or in prison very few are coming back. We need to resolve some of the deeper issues, and they are not easy to solve. How can the government force a family to stay together? They can’t. But they could address lack of economic opportunities. As we know finances are one of the main drivers of failed relationships and homes. We have to admit to ourselves that not every person is cut out for college or a desk job. These people need meaningful work. Instead we export those jobs and import the misery.
  - thewarrior 6y ago
    I’m not an American but I think it’s not fair to focus on the jobs being exporting rather than the people doing the exporting. There’s no shortage of funding for wars. Wars in the Middle East have cost 5-10 trillion as per various estimates. There are trillions of dollars held abroad in tax havens that the government is too afraid to touch. America has enough money to give every family high quality education, college, daycare and welfare Cheques.
    - mberning 6y ago
      I agree on the endless overseas misadventures. As far as the economics go, the government makes it easy to crush the blue collar working class. I do not fault the business for doing what they do when the government makes it so very easy for them. My idea would be to come up with a metric like the human development index and use that to calculate the tariff placed on goods produced in other countries. Obviously countries which abuse labor and do not respect human rights, such as China, would face a huge tariff. A country such as Canada would face little or no tariff. I completely disagree with putting people on welfare. It should be there as a safety net, not a lifestyle. People will be much happier and less prone to engage in crime of if they are occupied in gainful employment.