3 ms·

Prison population by itself doesn't tell us much. You'd have to compare it against some sort of measure of crime victimisation (crime rates are always a bit fl

Prison population by itself doesn't tell us much. You'd have to compare it against some sort of measure of crime victimisation (crime rates are always a bit flawed, because if police don't respond to crimes -> people stop calling -> no crime officially happened). At the opposite end, the lowest prison incarceration rate of any non-microstate is the Central African Republic. According to worldpopulationreview (first search engine result, happy to look at better sources if you have them), the CAR prison population per capita is a mere 2.5% of the USAs. The wikitravel article for this jurisdiction gives us this helpful warning: Most Western governments have issued explicit warnings to not travel to the Central African Republic under any circumstances. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, aggravated battery, and homicide, is extremely common. Large parts of the country are controlled by armed warlord groups who regularly kidnap, injure, and/or kill civilians. In the event of unrest, airport, land border, and road closures may occur with little or no notice. Consular services are often either extremely limited or non-existent. In short, stay away, and if you have no choice be sure to exercise war zone safety. So it's really not as simple as single statistic.

defrost 3y ago
It tells us that the USofA locks up more people per 100,000 than any other G20 country. It tells us that you have to reach to Central African Republic make some kind of apples and oranges attempt to justify why the US is clearly more punitive than actual comparitive countries.
- LAC-Tech 3y ago
  It tells us that the USofA locks up more people per 100,000 than any other G20 country. Ok so we're getting somewhere. Let's compare crime victimisation rates of G20 countries, and see if the United States high-incarceration rate is: A). Disproportionately high B). Justified C). Disproportionately low You feel very strongly about this issue, so if you've already looked into this let me know. It tells us that you have to reach to Central African Republic make some kind of apples and oranges attempt to justify why the US is clearly more punitive than actual comparitive countries. As I said, it had the lowest crime rates of all jurisdictions on the list, with the exception of San Marino, which didn't seem statistically useful because of the tiny population. If we're judging the attitudes of a whole nation by a single metric, might we not gain some knowledge from judging other nations by the same metric, and contrasting? Ie what might the wikitravel page for the USA say if it had the prison population rates of the CAR?

defrost 3y ago

It tells us that the USofA locks up more people per 100,000 than any other G20 country. It tells us that you have to reach to Central African Republic make some kind of apples and oranges attempt to justify why the US is clearly more punitive than actual comparitive countries.

LAC-Tech 3y ago
It tells us that the USofA locks up more people per 100,000 than any other G20 country. Ok so we're getting somewhere. Let's compare crime victimisation rates of G20 countries, and see if the United States high-incarceration rate is: A). Disproportionately high B). Justified C). Disproportionately low You feel very strongly about this issue, so if you've already looked into this let me know. It tells us that you have to reach to Central African Republic make some kind of apples and oranges attempt to justify why the US is clearly more punitive than actual comparitive countries. As I said, it had the lowest crime rates of all jurisdictions on the list, with the exception of San Marino, which didn't seem statistically useful because of the tiny population. If we're judging the attitudes of a whole nation by a single metric, might we not gain some knowledge from judging other nations by the same metric, and contrasting? Ie what might the wikitravel page for the USA say if it had the prison population rates of the CAR?