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The obviously relevant US government (since it's the one that ended slavery, fought the robber barons, passed the Civil Rights Act, recently passed health insur
by nknighthb 12y ago
The obviously relevant US government (since it's the one that ended slavery, fought the robber barons, passed the Civil Rights Act, recently passed health insurance reform, and has limited powers compared to other western democracies) imprisons 216,896 people[0], or less than 0.07% of the US population.
State governments are not "the US government". If someone says "the US government", they are either referring to the federal government, or need to do a great deal more research before speaking about US governance.
[0] http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.jsp http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.js...
- lilsunnybee 12y agoThe Drug War was started at a Federal level, with the Controlled Substances Act and the creation of the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency). [1] Approximately 1 in 10 Americans have been arrested on drug related charges since then, and even just looking at Federal prison facilities, 0.5 million people are incarcerated every year. [2] And that's just drug policy. Abuses by Federal agencies are numerous across history into the present day, and have often taken place on a grand scale: FBI misconduct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fbi#Controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fbi#Controversies CIA misconduct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cia#Controversies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cia#Controversies US Military Interventions since 1890: http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate#Drug_sentencing_laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rat...