Does it bother you that 1,000,000 Americans are in prison - but have not committed any violence or theft?

Question

The majority of prisoners in this nation have not committed any violence toward another person or committed any theft or property crime.

Does it help you sleep at night, make you feel safer?

Ya statistics are off.. its 1.2 million for all nonviolent,

400,000 for non-violent, non-property related crimes (not sexual crimes, fraud, id theft, 400,000 who have done nothing to another's physical safety or property)

Answer 1

Can u explain to me how you got your numbers? Plus, you fail to mention, the non-violent crimes can be even worse than violent. Like treason, identity theft, etc. Your number is flawed. Very few are innocent...in jail

Answer 2

Look at it this way. America has almost 2% of it's population in prison. We have a higher portion of our citizens incarcerated than any other country in the world, including Iraq when it was being run by Saddam Hussein. Even Turkey and the former Soviet Union never had a prison system as big as ours. That alone should tell us there's something seriously wrong with our society. Liberals and libertarians will tell you that it's because the government criminalizes and tries to abolish normal human behavior and jails people who are essentially harmless (i.e. drug users, prostitutes, illegal gamblers). Conservatives will tell you it's because we have more freedom in our country, and therefore more people will abuse it and get caught. It's probably 1/2 one and 1/2 the other, but I'll agree that there are people being imprisoned for victimless crimes who really don't belong there. I just don't see the logic of passing any law unless it's designed to protect one's rights from being violated by somebody else.

Answer 3

....... no, it bothers me that there are 1,000,000 more that HAVE committed serious offenses.... um, like killing people and worse, that the system has vomitted back out onto the streets because of over-crowding. That bothers me a lot.

and, um your percentage is off my friend, but... oh, wait, that's right.... i forgot. everyone in jail is "innocent" and nobody did anything wrong. they're all just there by accident.
There may be a few cases where the person is actually innocent, but 99.99% of those imprisoned, are guilty as crap and that is why they're there. They must've done something wrong to be sentenced for a few years, i'm doubtful the judge they stood before was unfamiliar with the law.

Answer 4

Yes it bothers me.
Yes it does help me sleep better at night and feel safer.
From my on personal experiences. Usually those who have had some contact with the justice system that required prison time. Have done some other things that often turn into the crime of theft or violence.

Answer 5

Violence and theft are relative. There is plenty of legally sanctioned violence and theft. The question is whether or not it's legal. So they didn't directly perform violence or theft. But doing drugs is supporting antigovernment murderers and killers and it costs tax payers who support the antidrug effort. Writing bad checks is stealing from another person.. and/or the shareholders of the bank. People don't go to prison for jaywalking. For every person in prison, there there is at least one victim. More directly, those in prison are there for breaking the law. Without law, there is no order. Without order there is no society. Without society.. well, a new order would arise... along with a hella lot of killing.

Answer 6

no it does not bother me because there are many crimes that land people behind bars.selling or manufacturing drugs.swindling or embezzling or bank robbery or fraud.sex crimes ,crimes against animals or children or defrauding the welfare systems to name a few.what does bother me is how long it takes to execute the monsters on death row.how long do we allow these murdering,rapist child molesting pigs to live??? that bothers me or people who walk the streets like those dogs in New Jersey who killed those 3 young kids and shot another,one was a illegal immigrant from Peru and the others involved were foreign nationals!!! that bothers me and the man from Peru had been arrested before for the rape of a 5 year old child and released and other crimes and bail reduced and released.what they did to those poor students in New Jersey made me cry!this should never have happened it was senseless,horrific and cruel.and if our government did more to protect our citizens than kissing foreigners a sses we would not have this trash in our country!!!that bothers me!!!

Answer 7

A lot of people go to prison Cox it is easier than living on the out side, food and a roof over ones head at no cost warmth over winter, some people choose this other than being on the out side , where they can not cope with every day life.
Until this question I have not thought about my own safety, it would make me worry Less if all the pedophiles where inside with buba.

Answer 8

Did you take a poll and ask them all? Or did somebody else? Criminals are always world class liers, and see absolutely nothing wrong with lying any time it will help them.
Where did you get this ridiculous statistic? I guarantee you the vast majority of them, including those on death row, are guilty of their crimes, and the ones who aren't are either covering for someone who did them, or committed similar crimes themselves anyway.
Get your facts straight and stop being so naive.

Answer 9

Where in the world are you getting that information? Lets see a link where you found those figures. I worked for the TDCJ, and, believe me, I do not recall seeing ANY inmate whose crime did not involve violence, theft, or some other atrocious mayhem. So, come on with that link....I want to see it.

Answer 10

please reword your claim ... these prisoners have not been proved to have committed any violence or theft against the persons or property of others.

what they have done is violate the drug laws. Using those drugs inherently commits violence against their own sanity and it is likely that most users of anything more than marijauna are also thieves [where do you suppose the money comes from?].

dealers, of course, have committed violence against the sanity of others [by selling drugs] and aided or abetted the thefts that produce the money their products demand.


nice try, no score.