Why does america have more people in prison than any other country in the world? land of the free?

Answer 1

United Inmates of America: 7 Million in Jail, on Parole or Probation
by Associated Press (01 Dec, 2006) From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.


A painting by US prisoner James Moore, seen in CC #58
A record seven million Americans - or one in every 32 adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of last year. The statistics show that while prison releases are increasing, admissions are increasing faster.

Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing at a faster rate - the number of women inmates in state or federal prison increased by 2.6 percent while the number of males rose by 1.9 percent. By the end of last year, 7 percent of all inmates were women.

"Today's figures fail to capture incarceration's impact on the thousands of children left behind by mothers in prison," said Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform.

"Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails."

From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.

The numbers are from the annual report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report breaks down inmate populations for state and federal prisons and local jails.

Racial disparities among prisoners persist. In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men - about one in 13 - are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. It is a similar story for women. Black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanic and more than three times as likely as white women to be in prison.

Answer 2

Because of the breakdown of the family. Throughout history when a country has a serious breakdown in morals their downfall is close at hand.
We are living in an anything goes society. So baby do your thing. Divorce and Drugs are probably the largest contributors. The reason being, divorce gives children instability and this opens the door for them to feel a need. They turn to drugs and then to crime. An untold number of children are being raised by their grandparents. Because mother was never married and is shacked up with some crack head who would probably kill the kid. Or because Mommy and Daddy just could not get along. In either event it is lack of responsibility. Oh well, on and on.
98 percent won't agree or understand any of this. There was a time when................. But that is long gone.

Answer 3

I hear you. But really at this point everything is hopeless. We are just 3 years away from what could be an apocalypse. What do you think NWO will do with us when people start to panic? Maybe they'll throw us in those death camps FEMA's been setting up? Problems like that make bitching about "democracy" look pretty petty huh?

Answer 4

There would definitely be more arrest in other countries, and this statistic, it only reflects, that America's law enforcement system, is probably less corrupt. Note: key word...probably

Answer 5

Where are your statistics?Is that in absolute numbers or as a percentage of the population?After all,we have just passed the 300 million mark.

Answer 6

Prison is a big business like everything else in this country.

Answer 7

because America spends all it money on WMD and destroying
country's for having WMD even if they don't (Iraq), instead of investing in there youths future, so the government leave youths with two choice join the army and die for no reason or turn to crime

Answer 8

America has a highest rate of crimes, suicides, serial killers, rape and murder cases.

This is what happens when u seprate the word of your Creator frm ur lives. Our creator has told us how to live in this world, if v dont follow it, v simply suffer.

Answer 9

Our punishments are too harsh for many crimes. The article to which you are referencing (which appeared on Yahoo! a couple days ago) said many countries focus on rehabilitation rather than imprisonment. We should be doing that I think.

Answer 10

Please cite your source.
The American legal system has its flaws, but considering the size of our country, it's doing an excellent and thorough job.