Why do you think there are so many people in prison or jail in the US compared to other developed countries?

Question

I have my own, but what is your grocery list of reasons and solutions?
Long, thought out answers welcome.
Please don't cut and paste, I would like your own opinions.

Answer 1

Because we try to legislate our way out of social problems instead of actually deal with them. If we don't like a behavior, we make it against the law instead of try to figure out how to stop the behavior in another way (e.g., drug use). We also have about 25% mentally ill in our prison population who would be much better served in a mental facility, but in the 70's we had a policy that threw open the doors of mental health facilities in favor of community care alternatives. But, guess what, there were not enough community care facilities and congress has repeatedly cut funding for mental health care, so they are not being created. Anyway, what politician would ever be elected for a platform that said, "I am for providing treatment for the mentally ill" over one who said "I am going to get tough on crime!" If you can instill fear in people and then tell them you have the solution, you can get elected.

Answer 2

Because the Republicans who are in the state legislatures don't know how to run any organization except on an authoritarian basis.

They see all humans as little children who need a slap on the fanny to straighten up. So they create "spankings" out of prison sentences rather than treating drug addictions as a disease, for example, and pouring tax dollars into early intervention and education programs so that kids get through school knowing how to do something besides lie and steal.

They do not believe in the old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

In other words, they lack common sense. Plus, a lot of them are sadists.

That's why we have so many people in prison---because our leaders use the WRONG approaches to treat the problems behind crime.

Answer 3

Jurydoc's answer is on the mark. The ready availability of handguns plays a role, as does the concentration of poor people in urban "ghettos." But the primary cause has got to be our lawmakers' attitude about responding to crime with increasing levels of a single solution: imprisonment. Other, more enlightened, countries are more effective in discovering and dealing with the root causes of crime. Our government is not interested in that approach and has made zero effort in that direction. If you have rats attracted to your garbage, you can either eliminate the food source or increase the number of rat traps-- but the former is much more effective than the latter.

Answer 4

I believe there are lots of answers to that question. The two that come to mind for me are:

1) The U.S.A. is a melting pot of cultures. We have do not have a homogeneous way of thinking and doing things. Some people that live here have no sense of their background, where they come from. I think that might lead to a lack of morales or even a lack of knowledge between right and wrong. Families are not as important here as they are in other countries.

2) Our gov't can be viewed as corrupt but when compared to foreign nations it is a lot less flexible in terms of justice. Someone that is considered in the U.S.A. might not be in other countries. Therefore more people in prison. For example, the "war on drugs" has led to a huge surge in prison populations.

Answer 5

Since the '70's the US has been hard on drug and alcohol abuse . I've sat in different court rooms and observed that 50 - 75 % of the cases involve drugs and or alcohol . ( criminal not civil of coarse )
Alot of cases are sent to rehab but most are not ready to go just because they were caught .
Solution : teach children from the get go how to seek happiness within themselves and bring back 2 parent homes as a condition for having children . Women that have children out of wedlock need to be fixed in order to stop filling up our prisons .

Answer 6

Because the US has more laws and stricter punishments. At the same time the US is safer. I live in Belgium where you can't even go on the Metro without getting jumped by Moroccans, and the cops never do anything about it because they will be accused of being racists.
Also here if someone breaks into your house you go to prison for defending your property, and then the robber can sue you.

Answer 7

If you give too much freedom to the people,this will going end up in this way.there is always "cause & effect" but that"s their country law which they want it to be in this way and if the goverment r comfortable with the law then let it be.that"s what freedom for and the offender its under their own responsiability for what they had done if they r comfortable & to them this is nothing to the prisioner.

Answer 8

Because the U.S. is a melting pot many nationalities different oppresions and different stresses lead to different mentalities and in other countries certain crimes mean death or disfigurement even stoning but here you sit in a cell maybe get out and always well fed so why not go to the U.S. and cause havoc.

Answer 9

i think it has alot to do with what we consider illegal and our tolerance for petty criminals..we dont have a strict enough judicial system, we are jailing people for minor offenses, and if we had stricter punishments for crime i think we'd see a big decline in crime..murder, rape, trafficking of drugs..in other countries..guns are a big issue alot of gun crime..look at england, no guns very low gun crime rate...not that we shouldnt be able to have them i think it needs to be easier for law abiding citz..and get tough on thugs..if they legalized pot like they have in amsterdam than wed free up alot of space in our prison system and jails, also the 3 strikes ur out is a stupid law that puts petty criminals in jail for a long time..lack of education and recourses for released felons increases their chances for being put back into the system

Answer 10

About 30% of US prisoners are illegal aliens who have committed crimes.
Illegals commit 2 1/2 times the crime rate of non-illegals.
They commit 1,000,000 sex crimes in US.

Drug trafficking is a large part of illegals.
There are sources, but you ask not for cut/paste.