U.S. Prison Population Seeing “Unprecedented Increase”

[Danke]

Over the past 30 years, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the federal prison population has jumped from 25,000 to 219,000 inmates, an increase of nearly 790 percent. Swollen by such figures, for years the United States has incarcerated far more people than any other country, today imprisoning some 716 people out of every 100,000. (Although CRS reports are not made public, a copy can be found here.)

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/u-s-prison-population-seeing-unprecedented-increase/

[bolil]

They are opened a new (though already built) Federal Prison in Illinois very recently and Cops in Chicago won't respond to car jackings or burglaries.

So their dropping off protection against serious crimes, and opening up a prison for who?

[Lucille]

I'm surprised there was no mention of private prisons lobbying politicians for, and getting, guaranteed 90% occupancy rates.


“Last year, some 95,000 juveniles under 18 years of age were put in prison, and that doesn’t count those in juvenile facilities,” she noted.

That is even more sickening than locking up non-violent drug offenders and mandatory minimums.

Stop Locking Up So Many Kids
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/stop-locking-up-so-many-kids/


America has a fetish for incarceration. The population of those this country puts behind bars is not only noticeable for its size (almost 25% of the world’s prisoners are American), but also its demographic makeup. It is not said often enough how over-represented African-Americans are in the American prison system, close to 40% of prisoners are black, while making up less than 14% of the American population. While the race disparities are worrying, another demographic is locked up far too often, juveniles.

When compared to other nations the number of youth incarcerated in America is stunning. Figures collected from the 2000s show that the U.S. youth incarceration rate was 336 for every 100,000. In England and Wales the figures was 46.8, In Germany 23.1, and in Italy 11.3.
[...]
Youths are locked up, denied a good education, and resolve disputes through violence. That many of these children come from violent homes in the first place and already resentful of authority should encourage policy makers to find a way to rehabilitate children without fostering behavior that will likely see them ending up in prison.

The sorts of crimes that see children sent to juvenile facilities are predictable. When Richard Ross, the Wired photographer visited an Idaho detention center there were six girls who were there for curfew violations, molestation abuse, burglary and possession of marijuana. Humiliation and social depravation hardly seem the right way to deal with these children, who have not even finished cognitive development—some of these girls were as young as eleven.

However it is not only drug use, burglary, and curfew violations that are seeing American children being put in front of judges. In Texas, where in some schools police patrol schools, some children have been ordered to court for not tucking in their shirt or for “Class C” misdemeanors such as truancy.

[tod evans]

Another side to the "war" coin...

There's money in them-thar laws....

[shane77m]

Somebody gotta make those license plates.

BTY Danke, it is nice to see Milton back.