While I probably agree with you about the prison system, I dislike your graph. Using the absolute incarceration count is misleading, as the population has grow

While I probably agree with you about the prison system, I dislike your graph. Using the absolute incarceration count is misleading, as the population has grown threefold since the 1920s. To put it differently, I could say that the there are 200 million more Americans out of prison now than there were in the 20s, so we must be better off now than before. The next graph down on the wiki page is far more representative: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png/1280px-U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/U.S... It actually makes your case stronger by showing a relatively flat line from the 20's through the 70's, indicating that this is really a recent trend. The other graph made it look like a historical inevitability, since the prison population is always increasing.