U.S. Prison Population is the Largest on Earth
According to the Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics web site between 1997 and 2005 violent crime dropped 22.5% and property crime dropped 22.7%. Between 2006 and 2007 violent crime increased 1.0% and property crime increased 2.7%. During this same period of time arrest and incarceration showed dramatic increases. The greatest percentages of arrest during this period were for consensual (victimless) crimes. An activity, currently illegal, in which no harm or damage to another person or individual's property occurs; such as recreational use of drugs, gambling, prostitution, pornography, drunk driving, and traffic violations.
The statistical breakdown of the U.S. correction system aggregation is as follows;
1 in every 45 Americans is on parole or probation
1 in every 100 Americans is in jail or prison
1 in every 11 African American adults is in jail or prison
1 in every 27 Hispanic American adults is in jail or prison
1 in every 45 White American adults is in jail or prison
Black Americans account for slightly over 10% of the total U.S. population. They also account for nearly 50% of the total U. S. jail and prison population. Of the estimated 36,500,000 crimes reported annually in the U.S., Black American's are involved in less than 9% but have the highest conviction and incarceration rate annually of any other group. This evidences the unspoken rule within the U.S. justice system to hold minority American's accountable to a different code of justice than the majority population.
The average annual cost of caring and housing a prisoner in the U.S. is nearly $29,000. This is a 300% increase over the past 10 years and is out pacing every governmental agency spending cost except for Medicare. It is accounting for an average 6.7% of most states general fund expenditures. The incarceration of America has become big business and very expensive. Extrapolating the current rate of growth over the next 20 years, by 2030 nearly 15% of the U.S. population will be accountable to the American correction system. If that occurs, the FEMA prisons the conspiracy theorists have been talking about for years will become reality.
The land of the free and the home of the brave a prison colony, well that is one way to halt illegal alien immigration. I am sure when this information is translated into different languages it will force immigrants to rethink resettlement in America. The only way to truly halt this growth is to return to the original Bill of Rights and reinstitute Habeas Corpus. A crime is only committed when there has been injury to another person or property. Victimless consensual crime laws must be removed from the U.S. judicial code of laws.
When we as adults know the risk involved in a particular act and chose to proceed with it, it is our choice and that is our right. If in the commencing of that act one does not harm another's property or person or involve another who does not willingly wish to participate, that individual is operating under the law granted to them by GOD and the Bill of Rights. That individual has consented and consent is one of the most precious rights we have. Is it right that a government legislate away its citizen's rights to consent? As you can see here in America, such legislation creates a populace of criminals. Isn't time to halt the systematic criminalization of America?
Sources:
Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics - www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
New High In U.S. Prison Numbers - washingtonpost.com - www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/28/ST2008022803016.html
Pew Center Report on Prison Population - http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One in 100.pdf
Published by Gerald McLeod
Living in Hawaii over 25 years. 3 adult children who left this pacific paradise for the Pacific Northwest. After years of insurance investigation reports writing is a habit. AC let's me choose what I like... View profile
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Speaking of hiring police, part of what is so egregious to me about drug crimes, is that the CIA and the police are the ones dealing it in the first place. Don't believe me? Here's a good place to start reading about this: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/index.html. Please stop buying into the facade of "safety", and get to know your neighbors. Grow your own food, build community, delegitimize politicians as the ones who have to "save" us, and stand up and fight back! It's doable, we just all have to work together. Solidarity and Peace, Citizen Bunnie
I don't think it's appropriate to call almost any of those crimes "victimless". While I also don't agree with these crimes necessarily ending in incarceration either, I think it's more important to focus on the lack of consideration for treatment or prevention of these crimes (e.g. creating a living wage to end poverty to thereby discourage situations people don't actually WANT to be in). Not to mention, the obnoxious classism, completely ignoring the crimes of the mostly white, ultra-rich privileged elite who impose pain and misery on millions via myriad ways - hiring mercenaries to push out or destroy local indigenous peoples to acquire land, resources and water; employing people at far below livable wages and keeping them subservient, if not locked inside during their work; hiring local police to quell free speech anytime it threatens to expose their methods, etc. Speaking of hiring police, part of what is so egregious to me about drug crimes, is that t
As pointed out above part of the problem is somme of the prison system being corporate owned. The are stocks traded and sold on wall street. They also spend a ton of money lobbying for new and tougher laws. Now don't get me wrong I am no a drug advocate as have seen to many lives destroyed by drugs but our current system does not work. Drug useage is at an all time high. Every dealer you take off the street is replaced by 3 more. The more drugs you take off the street just raises the prices and entices more people to sell or trasport. Our system does not work and yet we just keep doing the same thing and throw more money at it. Wake up! It's a sickness and needs to be treated with rehabilitation and education. A certain percentage of any population in any society throughout history has used a substance to escape reality. Maybe its time we spend more money on education and not criminalization. It appears that is the approach Holland has taken and their society hasn&#
I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
Should be "Americans" in both instances. The apostrophe is used only to form a possessive or a contraction.
"Black American's are involved...American's accountable to a different code of justice."
Don't agree with the Russian prison stats. what about the millions who were imprisoned, and murdered, in the Gulag?
And why is it everyone always feels the need to make excuses to lessen the impact of such nasty truths? If it is terrible, then work to fix it or change it. Don't keep looling away from these realities and expecting them to change themselves while making cheap excuses for why it's "not so bad". Because it's beyond bad and needs to be fixed. Numbers don't lie...
And nonsense drug charges make up the bulk of all incarcerations with punks having too much weed in their pockets being given near life or life terms, whereas the guy who murders a whole family just gets like 15 years of which he'll serve like 5 or so. Complete nonsense. The "justice" system in the United States is beyond evil and disgusting. It is about money, not "justice". Go look up sovereign immunity and all of the corruption in the courts and you will be more than surprised. You will also find I am completely correct in what I've said here.
Sorry for those working in homeland security and all the rest of the organizations that would LOVE to see the truth buried and lost forever, but these figures are 100% right on if not worse. Excuses that these numbers are due to incarcerated illegal immigrants and other complete nonsense is just a blatant lie for disinformation purposes. It is all too well known now thanks to the dealings going on in Arizona with the illegal immigration there that illegal immigrants are in fact NOT incarcerated at all. This is the reason all of the laws were passed in Arizona. So sorry but that argument is flatly false. The real reason so many are incarcerated is because just about everything in the United States is punished with jail and prison terms due to the fact that it makes such good profits for all of the PRIVATELY OWNED jails and prisons. Don't believe me? Go look it up and have yourself a good fit over it. The reality of what is going on in the world in regards to "justice" is beyond
You are 100% correct, sometimes drunk driving and traffic violations are not victimless. Sometimes property damage and personal injuries result from these infractions. This is a crime in which the party causing the injury or damage should be brought to justice and tried accordingly. However in 90 plus percent of the occurrences there is no injured party or property damage and America's prisons are filled with these individuals. Today it appears nearly every offense is a jailable offense and once misdemeanors offenses are now felony offenses. Individuals should be punished for breaking laws, but jail for everything...?