If the US is a "free" country, why do we have more people in jail/prison per capita than communist China?

Answer 1

I don't see that prisons and free country have anything to do with each other. And of course the responses show how much of a fantasy we live in here.

"our freedom isn't so free" How true.

A better question would be: If the US is a free country, why do we have more laws than any other countries in the world?
To this day I still find it hard to equate freedom and having everything regulated.

Answer 2

Because since USA's Capitalists have been blamed for sweatshops they've moved their exploitation to Prison Labor. There is BIG money in the Prison Industry, and it's mainly off of Prison Labor, yet they make us the people pay taxes on those prisons when those cooperations should really be funding them from all the profits they make. It's because the USA has die hard greedy capitalists and BIG Business and bad politics all working together for the sake of getting $$$. This is also not a true democracy, and there for we are truly not free. The USA is a democratic Republic, not a Democracy. Get that delusion out of your head.

Oh, and if you'd think solving the problem is execution, it costs more money to execute someone then it is to incarcerate someone for 50 years. Plus, if they die they can't become slaves. Slavery was abolished in the USA yes, but in that amendment there is nothing that says they can't exploit and enslave prisoners. Sure, some prisoners get paid, if you count one dollar an hour as pay! If we killed more people, the cooperations would loose out on their precious commodity, the cheapest ever work force, that people wont care about to protest about. Why? Because people see all criminals the same, that's why.

Answer 3

The U.S. reports everyone in prison and the people report the vast majority of crimes, and even things that aren't crimes because their population is rather easily excited (not a bad thing, but it certainly leads to a lot of reports!).

I think it's pretty well known fact that the Chinese government does not disclose a lot of information and who knows how much the people report... I would personally not trust some of the statistics.

Not saying China is a bad place or anything, but from what I have heard from friends who live there, the government is pretty corrupt and hides a lot of facts.

I do live in Japan which is unrelated, but we are reported to have a low crime rate...but SO many crimes go unreported here, I have heard horror stories from friends who didn't report, even things as bad as rape that required surgery because of the extent of the damage...so there are cultural factors, too.

Whether the U.S. has more criminals or not...I don't know, though. Just saying that making that comparison is pretty difficult.

Also I don't think being "free" makes people do less crime. If anything, having a lot of options available to one may increase the crime because people walk more varied paths, in my opinion...so you have more potential for total bastards, and conversely, total saints. There is just more variety when you feel like you can be whoever/do whatever you want. I don't think America is any "freer" than many other nations, though, it's kind of a vague term.

Answer 4

Funny this one, the UK is also held as an example for a free country and currently we have the highest jail/prison per capita in Europe.

Answer 5

It's "free" due to fact you can say whatever you want to say whether its by mouth or in print because China you couldn't do that because most of there activist that are against the government are thrown in prison. Also, our freedom isn't so free due to the fact an actor (Isaiah Washington) made a comment to one of his actors on the hit show "Greg Anatomy" and was fired on the spot. So you can say what you want to say but there will be consequences of your action.

The point on the people being in jail is that they are just plain stupid of doing the crime and not worry about the consequences. The US is a "free" country due to the fact many religions resides in this nation as well as the First Amendment. I hope this helps you out in your question.

Answer 6

The simple answer is... The US does NOT have more people in jail... per capita or total. You are referring to a number that was provided by the government of China.

"Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in forced-labor camps for criticizing the government, estimates that 16 to 20 million of his countrymen are incarcerated, including common criminals, political prisoners, and people in involuntary job placements. Even ten million prisoners would make for a rate of 793 per 100,000."

Now imagine if his estimate is accurate, which by all accounts (except that of the Chinese government) is, that would put their per capita rate at somewhere around 1300-1500 per 100,000... quite a bit higher than the US rate of 714 per 100,000.

Answer 7

Because we ARE free, there will always be people who take advantage of their liberties knowing they will get a fair (usually) trial and often a light (or no) jail time. And because we are free, our country does give the criminal the benefit of the doubt...in order to prevent the possibility of the noncriminal being unfairly accused. All these things, unfortunately, encourage criminal behavior.

In China, they KNOW that if they get caught, they will be lucky if they do live to go to jail AND that the conditions in the jail will be deplorable. It's a strong dis-incentive to commit a crime.

Answer 8

Not really a fair question at all. First of all, we don't know ALL of the facts about the China Prison system and how many are in there. Many are in prison because they spoke out against their government.

In America, its called due process and the people have committed crimes, and a jury of their peers have put them there for those crimes.

You are comparing apples to oranges because in America, we have to have probable cause to even arrest someone. In China, you arrest them and they may even disappear off the face of the earth, no questions asked.

Answer 9

You have to have prisons no matter how free you are. There are always people who don't know how to behave or how to treat others. Anyway, if you don't like the US just get out. They'll be plenty of room left for the rest of us. You know things here could be alot worse. Why don't you go on over to China and be "free" over there for a while. Sorry for going on a bit of a rant here, I'm just sick of people who live in the US being so down on it. Most have never even been to other countries to realize how good we have it here.

Answer 10

Did you hear what happened to the government minister just a few weeks ago over that tainted exports? they have less in jail, because the do what we should. Guilty, = execution. No jail space needed. If we did this, we would need far less prisons as well.