NationStates Jolt Archive

How can we have both?
From a Reuters dispatch on U.S. crime statistics:

The U.S. prison population continued to grow last year even though reports of violent crime during 2004 were at the lowest level since the government began compiling statistics 32 years ago, according to a government report released in September.

The other night, I realized that my degree of drunkenness was continuing to grow even though the bourbon in the bottle was at the lowest level since I opened it. Life is full of paradoxes, isn't it?

The reason this is happening is because of increased sentences for drug "crimes." Fewer new people getting arrested, but FAR fewer of the already-incarcerated getting out of jail, and the new people who do get arrested are given much longer sentences. So the number of people in prison at any given time goes up.

Want to get really depressed? Check out the stats on how our sentencing guidelines for drug offenses have gone up...and compare them to our sentencing guidelines for murder and violent sex offenses.

Maybe they've started arresting people 'just in case' they turn out to be criminals? Save catching them after they've committed a crime? Hey, it could be worse -- in the UK, we're giving our prisoners cruise ships!

The reason this is happening is because of increased sentences for drug "crimes." Fewer new people getting arrested, but FAR fewer of the already-incarcerated getting out of jail, and the new people who do get arrested are given much longer sentences. So the number of people in prison at any given time goes up.

Want to get really depressed? Check out the stats on how our sentencing guidelines for drug offenses have gone up...and compare them to our sentencing guidelines for murder and violent sex offenses.

C'mon, I know you have seen Reefer Madness, so you must know that marijuana is the cause of many murders and violent sex offenses. People just cannot control themselves when they "get high" so we lock them up before they turn into violent madmen. Why else would the crime rate be going down?

Hey at least your prison pop isn't quite full yet.


Reports are coming out that police have been taking prisoners, putting them in paddy wagons and parking on a street for the night.

Gone are the days you can send your scum to Australia and America. :)

C'mon, I know you have seen Reefer Madness, so you must know that marijuana is the cause of many murders and violent sex offenses. People just cannot control themselves when they "get high" so we lock them up before they turn into violent madmen. Why else would the crime rate be going down?
Oh yeah, I forgot. A drug that makes people hungry and sleepy is clearly the cause of all violent crime in America :).

Oh yeah, I forgot. A drug that makes people hungry and sleepy is clearly the cause of all violent crime in America :).

The drug for Leftist Liberal Anti-Right wingers. They have to ban that.
Giving out anti-depressants is fine for the conservatives. :D

How can we have both?

The more people you lock up, the smaller the population free to commit acts classed as crime.

Both high crime-rates and high rates of imprisonment are indicative of failings in either the social or the legal system, or both.

Gone are the days you can send your scum to Australia and America. :)

I miss those days, their descendants keep coming back though, bloody tourists :D

Oh yeah, I forgot. A drug that makes people hungry and sleepy is clearly the cause of all violent crime in America :).
Well, of course! Imagine how violent a reefer-induced person could get when denied munchies.
If everyone carried a bar of chocolate with them (and not a gun) when going out, violent crime would drop to almost nil. When attacked, just proffer up the chocolate bar and while the drug-crazed fiend is desperately trying to work out how to get into the wrapper, make your escape. Simple really.

Dude, considering the fact that laws like New York's Rockafeller drug laws put people away for decades, sometimes even life for having a few ounces of cocaine in their possesion, this is exactly what you'd expect. People go into prison and stay there for a long time. Even when the crime rate decreases dramatically more people are going in than coming out.