Why does the US have the highest (737per100,000) rate of people in jail, in the world?

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diamonds	because they are all allowed guns - glad we aren't in the UK! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Huge	Because it has more jails than any where else of course. Mind you Russia used to be the worlds leader here and China would too if they did not shoot so many. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Aegis of Freedom	Prove it. You can't because China, Russia, Iran, and others dont have a free press and don't report things that make them look bad. China probably has more, but will never report it to the world. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Boo	Because we catch our criminals and we show them mercy. many countries just shoot them. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Muledancer	Maybe we have better law enforcement in the States. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

william k	open borders Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Erick	Cuz we have rules and we catch people Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

joe s	I think the reasons are the following: 1.) It serves as a form social control. The high numbers of prisoners and inhumane treatment everyone jokes about (getting raped, etc.) scares people into becoming more law abiding and obedient. 2.) High numbers of prisoners mean more prisons, cheap labor, etc. The prison-industrial complex benefits a few. 3.) Drug use, an individual freedom, is criminalized to further the enumerated reasons 1 and 2. This is my take on it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Gary F	America is a country under the spell of moralistic hypocrites and racists that use government and the law to punish nonviolent behavior and to keep disadvantaged minority groups disadvantaged. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

TracyAnn	I have found out that large corporations are using prison labor to create call centers for corporations. Corporations contract the labor through the federal gov and the states. I think it is a new form of oppressed,slave labor. Air lines, and big hotel chains set up call centers in prisons to take reservations. Companies also use the prison labor to do marketing research and data entry.Alot of these jobs in the private sector start at 9 to 10 bucks an hour. I think this nation have allot of economic terrorists like corporations that send our jobs over seas, pharmaceutical ,and big oil companies. companies that lay people off when they are pulling million and billion dollar profits.Rent Micheal Moore's documentary Downsizing.Also gov. contractors like halibutron,blackwatwer and kbr that are ripping the tax payers off of billion dollar no bid contracts. Our laws are set up to where you can go to jail for just about anything. Because of the Patriot act you can be accused of something taken away with no search warrant our home and assets seized. They throw you in jail for thing that are legal on a state level ( Ca.) like medical marijuana but illegal on a federal level. They are filling up the federal prison system full of people who don't need to be there and letting out the murders and rapist that need to be executed. And when you are on probation it is so expensive that you can't afford the payments so back to prison you go As far as guns i never owned one till I got car jacked last year. The guy stuck a stolen gun in my face.I never felt so vulnerable in my life. I thought he was going to kill me. I am a responsible legal gun owner and I will never look down the barrel of another persons gun again with out a fighting chance. Our gov puts money into prisons not education> That really makes me go Hmmm? There up to something........ Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

robert c	Because they face up to the perpetrators and wrong doers!Not feel sorry for them! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Ally O	because they have more jail space. here people are given sentences to reduce the number of people in prison. America takes the no tolerance stance - maybe we should too??!!! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

soni	the government are not looking for other ways to punish criminal rather than give them food, place to live/stay........... while there are poor people who didn't commite any crime are not even getting enough food or place to live. government has to do sometihng about it. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

mischievous	I don't think that Yahoo wants answers to this question, submission justs provides a permanent coffee break message. This answer did succeed where all my originals failed. These were along the lines that the USA figure is 0.737% of their population, ours is 0.148%. Assuming crime rates are similar in most countries, for our population of 60 million that means we have 88800 criminals on the loose each committing several crimes. Thats what happens when society protects the perpetrators and not the victims. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

paul t	dont worry the uk aint far behind ya ,introducin a new crimainal offence everyday Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

skyman100us	Because the US has the most criminals. We also have a government which constantly makes new laws against things which really aren't all that bad...ie pot. Congressman Barney Frank's proposal to legalize pot will undoubtably reduce the population of our prison system if it is passed. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

endoscented	It's bad when you have to compare the US to other countries like Cuba and N Korea to make your point. Strict drug laws are one of a litany of factors. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

John D	US Laws are ridiculous... that's why. Take California for example... If you are caught with pot/marijuana 3 times, you receive a LIFE SENTENCE.... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Fangthane	We have a higher jail rate because we have much stricter drug laws than most European countries, and we execute less people than the more Authoritarian countries such as Iran, Cuba, N Korea etc... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

more slack	Leading cause? We treat drug abuse as a crime rather than a health issue. Others include a lock 'em up mentality (3 strikes laws, federal mandatory minimums) which have swelled prisons to overflowing and an ongoing legacy of race-related issues that are really largely economic. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

bajaricky	A few reasons are the three strikee law can go back for a petty crime of anything Another is people are in prison for drugs most weed and problaly not more than an ounce some parts of okla and tex you can go for seeds another is paroll vilations not paying fines ect cant get or find work because of the classes you have to take for paroll so no work cant pay fines so the prison system is a spinning door the goverment makes big money of the inmate population the more spaces field the more cash in the goverments pocket stupid laws that is a few of my thoughts on why we have the largest prison population in the world star for you Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

It's That Guy	A number of people here have the right idea. The real reason is that we Americans are in denial about a lot of things. We want simple answers to complicated questions, and we vote for whoever had the simplest answer, whether it will work or not. For 30 years now politicians have been trying to outdo each other in being 'tough on crime'. 30 years ago most first-offenders got probation but now they get prison sentences. We have doubled prison sentences for nearly every crime and then doubled them again because it was easy for politicians to sell the idea to the public that tougher sentences mean less crime. Any politician who has the courage to go against this idea is immediately jumped on by his competition as 'soft on crime', so none of them do until they are retired. The fact is, if locking more people up would make our streets safer, we'd have the safest streets in the world. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No