4 ms·

The US has a lot of people in prison because it's a big rich country with a diverse population. And it wasn't before 1980? That's news to me. https://en.wikip

• mnemonicsloth 13y ago
  Did you not read even one sentence of mine after the one you quoted? "...and easy to vote for stiff penalties for criminals who don't look like you." That's a reference to the Drug War. Which Reagan cranked into high gear in the 1980s, in response to the crack epidemic, by introducing mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession. Penalties for possessing crack were, infamously, 100 times those for an equivalent amount of powder cocaine. Congress revisited the issue in 2011 and reduced the ratio. Now it's just 20:1. Most crack users are black, and so, as a result, are disproportionately many prison inmates. Only 13% of the population is black. The other 87% continue to vote enthusiastically for politicians who are "tough on crime".