If Canada had a more efficient court system and as you suggest put time down for lesser offences like the US, then our incarceration rate would be comparable I'd bet.
Posted at 2008-03-02 15:34:00 [PermaLink]Perhaps the high incarceration rate is a consequence and cost of having a country with a high degree of personal liberty.
Posted at 2008-03-02 16:45:26 [PermaLink]"capita and absolute terms, the United States incarcerates more people than even China"
Who cares? All that tells us is that other countries have a lot more criminals running free.
Remember that when you plan your next trip to "lovely Cuba" or "exotic China".
"Who cares? All that tells us is that other countries have a lot more criminals running free. "
Or the US has decided to jail a ton of people who probably should be somewhere other than jail... nah.. you're theory about the rest of the world being a swarming mass of criminals (especially those damned "socialist" countries...) must be it.
Sorry, but I'm inclined to take THIS study with a "grain of salt", too.
Posted at 2008-03-02 18:18:52 [PermaLink]Cameron
"you're theory about the rest of the world being a swarming mass of criminals (especially those damned "socialist" countries...) must be it.
"
[External Link]
The boat lift continued, however, since Castro allowed anyone who desired to leave the country to do so through the port of Mariel and this emigration became known as the Mariel boatlift. The Cuban government took the opportunity to empty Cuban prisons of all serious offenders, place them on boats and dupe the US into accepting them. Many formerly incarcerated individuals established themselves in Miami, Florida, and help to account for the high crime rate in that area.
That's just for starters.
"Perhaps the high incarceration rate is a consequence and cost of having a country with a high degree of personal liberty"
Lol - I hope this was an attempt at ironic humor, CMP.
Mark: Why would it be so?
Remember, the Soviet Union, after Stalin, didn't need to jail very many people - because the entire State was a prison, and because with the State controlling employment and housing, it's relatively easy to maintain order without having to resort to imprisonment de jure.
Personal liberty is no guarantee of being law-abiding, after all; its benefits are in almost entirely a different sphere. Liberty (economic and personal) makes people more wealthy... which might well incline those who'd prefer to take than to earn to more crime.
(Not to mention that liberty to own one's own transport, to own weaponry, and to own land, all make possible a set of crimes that can't even be contemplated, no matter how criminally-minded an individual is, if they lack those liberties.
Liberty is the basis for the good life, and also makes it possible for those so inclined to commit more - and more extravagant - criminal acts.)
The thesis that liberty may cause more crime is by no means certain to be true, but it can't be dismissed out of hand. (Nor would it follow that liberty should be curtailed if it were true; the benefits certainly outweigh any costs.)
RE: Comment by MarkW:
"Perhaps the high incarceration rate is a consequence and cost of having a country with a high degree of personal liberty"
Lol - I hope this was an attempt at ironic humor, CMP."
But of course
More prisoners = less crime. Canada should be doing the same thing. I'm disappointed you fell for that bushwah about poor losers behind bars for a joint. They're repeat offender criminals who are in there on drug charges because those are the charges that stuck. Bulding prisons and filling them is the fastest and most cost-effective way we could reduce crime in this country.
Posted at 2008-03-04 02:09:16 [PermaLink]