You are right it is a possibility, I actually think "incarceration rate" may actually be this alternative benchmark you suggested. Now the question is do voter

You are right it is a possibility, I actually think "incarceration rate" may actually be this alternative benchmark you suggested. Now the question is do voters realize that benchmark can be artificially lowered by terrible policies that don't help anyone other than make some people "feel good"? We can literally make all crimes legal and we'd end up with an incarceration rate and prison population of zero.