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> Like, this feels like it's got to include speeding tickets in the mix to get something that high. Speeding is a civil, not criminal, infraction. You can't h

> Like, this feels like it's got to include speeding tickets in the mix to get something that high. Speeding is a civil, not criminal, infraction. You can't have the highest prison population in the world for decades and not end up with a bunch of people with criminal records.

yuliyp 2y ago
The U.S. prison population is around 2M people. I'm not sure how that translates to 77M people with criminal records. (I'm serious about wanting to know more about these statistics and how they're generated. My brief searches trying to find where the data claimed in the linked infographics comes from got me nowhere. EDIT: I found the [National Longitudinal Survey of Youth](https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm) and as far as I could tell from some super quick excel formulas it's about 32% of interview subjects (people born 1980 - 1984) reported being arrested at least once by 2021.
- deleted 2y ago
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- phil21 2y ago
  The vast majority of those with criminal records do not serve prison time. They plea bargain for work release, probation, diversion programs, etc. For example some types of DUI (drunk driving) is a felony in many states, but extremely common in the population as a whole. Very few do actual prison time unless especially egregious, are repeat offenders, or if they hurt someone during the commission of that crime. Many other examples abound - ranging from felony (over $1,000 in most places) shoplifting, breaking and entering, bar fights, etc. Felonies used to mean "high crimes" and were intended to be exceedingly rare and for exceptional crimes, but they have lost any meaning whatsoever over the interceding years. I believe "criminal records" also includes folks with misdemeanors which is even more common and almost never has associated prison time included in sentencing. Not sure if the statistics you're referencing re: "criminal records" even includes arrests in that. Many arrests don't result in further prosecution on top of all the above.
  - UncleEntity 2y ago
    I used to know this guy that got two felony DUIs in a week (both with injuries) and all he ended up with was six months in county jail (plus, I'm guessing, a shitton of fines) after all was said and done. Dude totaled at least his two cars (don't know what happened to the cars he hit), hurt some people and obviously didn't care since he did it twice. Of course it was over a woman...

yuliyp 2y ago

The U.S. prison population is around 2M people. I'm not sure how that translates to 77M people with criminal records. (I'm serious about wanting to know more about these statistics and how they're generated. My brief searches trying to find where the data claimed in the linked infographics comes from got me nowhere. EDIT: I found the [National Longitudinal Survey of Youth](https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm) and as far as I could tell from some super quick excel formulas it's about 32% of interview subjects (people born 1980 - 1984) reported being arrested at least once by 2021.

deleted 2y ago
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phil21 2y ago
The vast majority of those with criminal records do not serve prison time. They plea bargain for work release, probation, diversion programs, etc. For example some types of DUI (drunk driving) is a felony in many states, but extremely common in the population as a whole. Very few do actual prison time unless especially egregious, are repeat offenders, or if they hurt someone during the commission of that crime. Many other examples abound - ranging from felony (over $1,000 in most places) shoplifting, breaking and entering, bar fights, etc. Felonies used to mean "high crimes" and were intended to be exceedingly rare and for exceptional crimes, but they have lost any meaning whatsoever over the interceding years. I believe "criminal records" also includes folks with misdemeanors which is even more common and almost never has associated prison time included in sentencing. Not sure if the statistics you're referencing re: "criminal records" even includes arrests in that. Many arrests don't result in further prosecution on top of all the above.
- UncleEntity 2y ago
  I used to know this guy that got two felony DUIs in a week (both with injuries) and all he ended up with was six months in county jail (plus, I'm guessing, a shitton of fines) after all was said and done. Dude totaled at least his two cars (don't know what happened to the cars he hit), hurt some people and obviously didn't care since he did it twice. Of course it was over a woman...