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That doesn't make it wrong. There is a reason the public started to support stiffer sentences, after all - they believed (correctly, as it turns out) locking u
by tsotha 14y ago
That doesn't make it wrong. There is a reason the public started to support stiffer sentences, after all - they believed (correctly, as it turns out) locking up criminals means you get less crime.
- mpweiher 14y agoExcept that crime rates dropped the same way in just about every other western country without harsher sentencing, and without locking up large sections of the population. Update: Thanks "lostlogin", fixed.
- tsotha 14y agoNot by the same amount, though.
- mpweiher 14y agoThey didn't have the chance to drop by the same amount, because they were much lower to begin with. And are still much lower. But drop they did. So what's the evidence again for higher incarceration rates and stiffer sentencing leading to lower crime?
- lostlogin 14y agoNot sure of your definition of western, but leave New Zealand out of it, 2nd highest incarceration rate in the world, and growing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Corrections_(New_Zealand) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Corrections_(New_...
- vacri 14y agoSecond highest in the world? NZ is 190/100k, a rate that puts it in 71st position: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcerat...
- lostlogin 14y agoNice catch. I didn't read carefully enough. 'Western world' being a key phrase. I got my stat from this statement "New Zealand has the second highest rate of imprisonment in the Western world.[12]" from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Corrections_(New_Zealand)#cite_note-12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Corrections_(New_...
- vacri 14y agoEven so, mpwieher's comment still stands to some degree. At a rate of 190, NZ is still around the same level as other Western countries which range from 70 to 150ish. It's nowhere near the proportion of people imprisoned by the US at 730. That's a pretty big dropoff between first and second place.
- vacri 14y agoSo... your reasoning is... that a skyrocketing prison population does indeed reduce crime significantly... and at the same time, gun laws in the US were mostly responsible for the reduction in crime drop? I mean, you're agreeing with me at the same time you're disagreeing with me, in a way that just doesn't make sense.
- tsotha 14y agoWhere did I say gun laws were responsible for the "reduction in crime drop [sic]"?