Land of the "free"
A study by the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College, London, reveals that the US incarcerates far more people than any other country in the world. Our prison population is approaching 2.5 million people, or about 750 per 100,000. By comparison, Canada incarcerates 108 people per 100,000; England 151; France 91; Russia 627; Cuba 531; Chile 279; Australia 130; Japan 63; and Barbados 379.
The authors gave several speculative reasons for the very high incarceration rate, including cultural independence / attitude of personal responsibility, heavy influence of Calvinist religious doctrine, politically elected judges, and strict and lengthy sentencing - particularly for drug crimes. They also note that crime rates are tied to the prison population (more prisoners = less crime), but that the ratios were not equal (they give the example of Canada, with 1/7th the imprisonment rate but nowhere near 7x more crime).
Regardless of the reasons, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the USA is not unequivocally the "land of the free," but more like the land of many laws and not so much grace.
What are your thoughts?
posted by Brad @ 11:06 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hi Brad,
My initial thoughts were: Doesn't that just mean that we catch more of our criminals? My mind went to stories I've heard of other countries where government officials are more susceptible to bribes and human rights offenses are not punishable by law.
How would the government extend grace in a fair manner? And actually, if we're looking at the true meaning of the word grace, then the government being gracious would be for them to take the punishment of criminal's crimes and place them on itself.
I don't think it means we catch more of our criminals. Me personally - I think it has to do with a lot more than that.
It seems to me that in countries where the wealth is more evenly spread and fewer people per capita live in poverty, the incarceration rate is lower.
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