3 ms·

200/150. only 33% higher in those states you mention than the UK. That's some disparity especially if it's the lower end of the incarceration rate for the US. R

200/150. only 33% higher in those states you mention than the UK. That's some disparity especially if it's the lower end of the incarceration rate for the US. Rather than racial issues, I think drug laws - specifically decriminalization and subsequent recriminalization of marijuana in the UK[0] would be the differentiator. I think states that decriminalised marijuana in the U.S. will see a reduction in incarceration rate. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_reclassification_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_reclassification_in_t...

rayiner 14y ago
It's the low end of the U.S. spectrum, but it's a much better comparison to the U.K. than the U.S. as a whole in terms of demographic profile. Yes, much of the disparity is from drug laws. I think if you decriminalized common drugs, places like Mass. and Minn. would fall below the U.K. About 50% of our federal prisoners are drug offenders, and less than 20% of state prisoners are drug offenders (20% overall). So decriminalizing would cut our incarceration rate, but not by enough to make up the gap (~750 per 100k versus 150 per 100k in the U.K.) Europeans really have a hard time, I think, appreciating America's unique challenges. Look at the states with the highest incarceration rates in the U.S.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarceration_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarcer... The top 6 are, in order of decreasing incarceration rate: Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Arizona. Three former slave states and three states at the epicenter of mexican immigration. Note that I'm not trying to make a racist argument here. It's just that class, social standing, and race are deeply intertwined in America in a way people in homogenous European countries really have trouble appreciating. The U.S. has more income inequality than nearly any Western European country, and that income inequality manifests heavily along racial lines. But the racial divide compounds that inequality. It takes the inherent problems with income inequality and adds a vicious "us versus them" dimension to the problem.

rayiner 14y ago

It's the low end of the U.S. spectrum, but it's a much better comparison to the U.K. than the U.S. as a whole in terms of demographic profile. Yes, much of the disparity is from drug laws. I think if you decriminalized common drugs, places like Mass. and Minn. would fall below the U.K. About 50% of our federal prisoners are drug offenders, and less than 20% of state prisoners are drug offenders (20% overall). So decriminalizing would cut our incarceration rate, but not by enough to make up the gap (~750 per 100k versus 150 per 100k in the U.K.) Europeans really have a hard time, I think, appreciating America's unique challenges. Look at the states with the highest incarceration rates in the U.S.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarceration_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incarcer... The top 6 are, in order of decreasing incarceration rate: Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Arizona. Three former slave states and three states at the epicenter of mexican immigration. Note that I'm not trying to make a racist argument here. It's just that class, social standing, and race are deeply intertwined in America in a way people in homogenous European countries really have trouble appreciating. The U.S. has more income inequality than nearly any Western European country, and that income inequality manifests heavily along racial lines. But the racial divide compounds that inequality. It takes the inherent problems with income inequality and adds a vicious "us versus them" dimension to the problem.