US notches world's highest incarceration rate (well, maybe....)

[The Straight Story]

BUT - see all articles listed:

US notches world's highest incarceration rate

A report highlights extent to which many citizens have served time in prison.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – More than 5.6 million Americans are in prison or have served time there, according to a new report by the Justice Department released Sunday. That's 1 in 37 adults living in the United States, the highest incarceration level in the world.

It's the first time the US government has released estimates of the extent of imprisonment, and the report's statistics have broad implications for everything from state fiscal crises to how other nations view the American experience.

If current trends continue, it means that a black male in the United States would have about a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison during his lifetime. For a Hispanic male, it's 1 in 6; for a white male, 1 in 17.

The numbers come after many years of get-tough policies - and years when violent-crime rates have generally fallen. But to some observers, they point to broader failures in US society, particularly in regard to racial minorities and others who are economically disadvantaged.

"These new numbers are shocking enough, but what we don't see are the ripple effects of what they mean: For the generation of black children today, there's almost an inevitable aspect of going to prison," says Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington. "We have the wealthiest society in human history, and we maintain the highest level of imprisonment. It's striking what that says about our approach to social problems and inequality."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/p02s01-usju.html

Figure 1: Total number of offences recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998


http://www.iss.co.za/PUBS/CRIMEINDEX/01VOL5NO1/World.html

Crime rate in England 'is worst in the world'

by David Taylor, Home Affairs Correspondent (click here for the link to the article)

England has the worst crime record in the industrialised world, according to alarming findings published today.

The figures, which are a blow to Tony Blair's crusade against crime, show there are 58 offences for every 100 inhabitants of England and Wales each year.

That puts us joint top of the world league with Australia, with a record far worse than America, which has an annual rate of 43 crimes per 100 inhabitants.

The findings come from the international crime victims' survey, produced jointly every three years by academics in Holland and statisticians from the Home Office.

About 2,000 people in 17 different countries were surveyed about their experiences of crime in 1999. People were asked whether they had been victims of any of a range of 11 offences from violent and sexual assault to car crime, burglary and theft of bicycles.

http://www.car-crime.com/crime_rate.htm

[MountainLaurel]

1. We're number 1! We're number 1!

:toast:

:sarcasm:

[The Straight Story]

2. Well that might be good :)

We lead in incarceration but perhaps not crime ;)

[kenny blankenship]

3. I expect we still lead UK in violent crime, but they "make it up"

in crimes against property (theft--but this probably doesn't take into consideration acts of megatheft like Enron, Worldcom, the energy shakedown of California etc.)