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Why Is the U.S. Prison Population So Large?
/www.learnliberty.org ^ | January 7, 2013 | Speaker Daniel D'Amico

Posted on 01/13/2013 10:41:06 AM PST by redreno

The United States houses more human beings in prisons than any other country, both in terms of actual numbers and in relation to population size. The U.S. prison population began to grow dramatically in the 1970s. Professor Daniel D’Amico examines the data behind the alarming increase in the number of prisoners in the United States and finds that much of the growth in the last 40 years has been driven by the war on drugs.

From 1980 to 1990, the total U.S. prison population more than doubled. In that same time, the proportion of people in prison for nonviolent drug crimes rose from 7.5 percent to 24 percent. Prof. D’Amico says this statistic actually understates the influence of the drug war on the prison population because drug prohibition also increases violent crime by leading to the formation of gangs and cartels. By 2000, the prison population had nearly doubled again, but the proportion of prisoners due to drug-related offenses remained similar.

(Excerpt) Read more at videos ...


TOPICS: Government; Society
KEYWORDS: addiction; capitalpunishment; corrections; drugs; inmates; libertarians; medicalmarijuana; mentalillness; prison; psychology; skinheadsonfr; warondrugs
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To: redreno

Why? Free food, lodging, medicine, education... Cable, fitness plan....


21 posted on 01/13/2013 11:43:22 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (Rome didn't fall in a day, either.)
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To: redreno

Shrugs...set an occupancy cap and when reached hang the occupants who have been there the longest to make room for new criminals. It would be a nice deterrent to crime.


22 posted on 01/13/2013 11:47:49 AM PST by lwoodham (I am Andrew Breitbart. Don't doubt me on this.)
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To: PieterCasparzen
George Soros thanks you for helping with his drug legalization efforts.

What part of the Constitution authorizes the WOD's, the single most destructive war in history that has eroded our basic rights.

What war on anything has ever been declared victorious and ended?

Not one, The war on poverty had been going on since 65 at cost of 11-13 trillion flushed down the toilet with no end in site, in fact it is expanding.

The WOD in 73? has cost untold trillions and the destruction of 4th amendment rights, SWAT teams breaking down doors in the middle of the night many times at wrong addresses with no recourse from the victims, etc....all based on "informants"

The war on terror......will go on forever....are you seeing a pattern here?

BTW, how did that war on alcohol work out?

It worked out great didn't it, FOR the Government that is.

And before you start with the libertarian BS, I am not advocating legalizing drugs, what I am saying is that there are many things that are illegal yet there is no "war" on them.

23 posted on 01/13/2013 11:50:54 AM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: redreno

Why Is the U.S. Prison Population So Large?
Because the US has a huge feral people population.


24 posted on 01/13/2013 11:53:05 AM PST by csmusaret (I will give Obama credit for one thing- he is living proof that familiarity breeds contempt.)
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To: redreno
General concept.
25 posted on 01/13/2013 11:54:28 AM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: sunmars
criminals get locked up and they know prison is a cakewalk these days as well as them having more rights than victims.

Yes they do. They also get the best health care money can buy. Where in the Constitution, does it authorize this?

26 posted on 01/13/2013 11:55:31 AM PST by Mark17 (California, where English is a foreign language)
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To: redreno

So they’ll have plenty of facilities to lock us up, after they turn the current inmates loose and hand them weapons in exchange for their fealty?


27 posted on 01/13/2013 12:08:45 PM PST by Steel Wolf ("Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master." - Gaius Sallustius Crispus)
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To: redreno

,,,,, currently one out of ten Americans are on jail .


28 posted on 01/13/2013 12:35:57 PM PST by Lionheartusa1 (-: Socialism & Communism are the equal distribution of misery :-)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“When people get sent to prison, give them all the libraries, free schooling, weight lifting, flat screen TVs, drugs etc etc to keep them ‘calm’.”

“LET’S not forget the free sex.”

Well, you get what you pay for...


29 posted on 01/13/2013 12:37:45 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: Lionheartusa1
currently one out of ten Americans are on jail.

Jail, food stamps...the "Free Stuff" crowds *rights* are being met off the backs of the Makers. Sheesh.

30 posted on 01/13/2013 12:47:19 PM PST by Jane Long (Philippians 2:11)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

LET’S not forget the free sex.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Absolutely...of course, some are givers and some are takers.

I would imagine when first entering the hallowed halls one is a taker for a while before he works his way up to giver.

Civilization you know, the Union way, one must work their way up or down, dependent on the situation.

If ‘they’ knock ones teeth out and then tattoo his name, upside down, between the shoulder blades, it means he is a favorite and you can ask for him back.

Of course if the Giver really likes, he tattoos his own name on the Takers arse, thereby establishing ‘private property’.


31 posted on 01/13/2013 1:14:24 PM PST by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: Lionheartusa1

US population is 300+ million.
One out of ten would be 30+ million.

http://www.correctionalnews.com/articles/2012/02/22/us-sees-first-decrease-in-prison-population-in-nearly-40-years

U.S. Sees First Decrease in Prison Population in Nearly 40 Years

(02/22/2012)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. prison population has dropped for the first time in nearly 40 years.

According to the most recent government data, the number of inmates is down 1.3 percent, to about 7 million offenders behind bars...


32 posted on 01/13/2013 1:22:52 PM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: redreno
Because so many people violate the law.
33 posted on 01/13/2013 1:32:06 PM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: redreno

Because the illegal drug industry pays its workers well.


34 posted on 01/13/2013 1:34:30 PM PST by jonrick46 (The opium of Communists: other people's money.)
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To: Las Vegas Ron

Of course, LVR; big government is not good - welfare should be eliminated, only Depts should be State, War, Justice and perhaps a few real basic agencies lumped into Interior. Perhaps 10% of the bureaucracy that we have today.

SWAT teams, IMHO, are not the way to go. It’s exciting perhaps for people who enjoy such things, but suspects could be picked up much in much easier and safer ways.

There should be no Federal money going to States for anything.

It’s not the sellers that should be sought so earnestly, but the users. Start with $500 fine and go up for repeat offenders. It should be treated like public drunkenness in terms of jail time, no lengthy term, just to sober up like that guy on Andy Griffith. The fines keep going up for repeat offenses, and fines can’t be gotten away from. The system should be designed to make being a drug user costly. Aggressively hand out those fines, the same way they do traffic tickets, with all revenue going back to taxpayers as a refund. The sellers will disappear when the buyers disappear.

Murder is a crime that should not be backed off on, and LE should spend much of their resources tracing and tracking and knowing what is going on in their locales. Other than that, though they are committing a crime by selling, sellers are supplying a demand and it’s the demand that needs to be reduced, not the supply, in order to rid our nation of this vile waste.

Calling something a war that is not a war, I agree, is not smart and not good. The war on terror avoids the best course of action regarding security, which is to recognize that islam needs to be eliminated from the U.S. as the murderous cult that it is. Not eliminating it will lead to islamization of the U.S. It’s a simple choice and the correct answer is a simple remedy for most of our security issues, but it’s difficult to do now because few can distinguish between the true faith of the Bible and a murderous cult.


35 posted on 01/13/2013 1:40:34 PM PST by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: PieterCasparzen
Excellent post FRiend, I agree most heartily.

SWAT teams, IMHO, are not the way to go. It’s exciting perhaps for people who enjoy such things, but suspects could be picked up much in much easier and safer ways.

Funny you should bring that up, I have this thread bookmarked:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2739397/posts

Murder is a crime that should not be backed off on, and LE should spend much of their resources tracing and tracking and knowing what is going on in their locales. Other than that, though they are committing a crime by selling, sellers are supplying a demand and it’s the demand that needs to be reduced, not the supply, in order to rid our nation of this vile waste.

That's huge endevour, throughout history man has used drugs to escape reality. Opium dens and its use, e.g., has been noted for thousands of years....still is.

Truth be told, alcohol is just a legal version of it....not to mention heavily taxed like tobacco.

36 posted on 01/13/2013 2:08:16 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: Signalman

Prison is nothing g mor than a big govt racket as well lately.


37 posted on 01/13/2013 2:16:05 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (The Obama Adminstration: 2nd wave of attacks on America after 9/11)
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To: redreno

Divorce/cohabitation...in general, moral bankruptcy. As for a “war on drugs,” that hasn’t happened. It’s only another effeminate exaggeration from a fringe of political speech.


38 posted on 01/13/2013 3:14:48 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: familyop

Spot on the hacks keep looking the other way,they only live for a vote.


39 posted on 01/13/2013 3:51:43 PM PST by Vaduz
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
I'm glad you addressed this. We don't send some guy who smokes a joint to PRISON.

We do send guys who sell crack to kids to prison though.

I don't care how "non-violent" they may be at that particular time, but drug-dealers aren't exactly known to be toothless softies. They are heavily armed with illegally obtained weapons.

I've never read of a major drug bust that didn't include: "Drugs, a large amount of cash and WEAPONS".

40 posted on 01/13/2013 4:09:26 PM PST by boop ("You don't look so bad, here's another")
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