Source: The Economist's Daily Chart
Today's daily chart ranks the top 14 countries by highest prison population, showing the US with by far the greatest population by total number and per 100,000 residents.
A lot of great commentary was provided on the site by readers, both American and non-American. I wanted to take a chance to pull out a bunch of interesting insights and hypotheses that might provide further explanation into why the numbers look the way they do...
The US has a violent society, a system of law enforcement that works, and several petty laws that punish victimless crimes. These three in concert make for a very busy prison system.
The US is a country that sends 14 year olds to life in jail; 18 year olds to the death penalty; and minor drug dealers to decades in jail.
America has a large industry in for-profit, private prison companies
A large percentage of inmates in America are mentally ill
Americans love politicians and judges who are tough on crime, regardless of the fact that they're often much tougher on victimless crime, like dealing or using drugs, than they are on people like Bernie Madoff, who stole billions.
Canada, whose standard of living and culture is very similar to that of the USA, has "only" 117 people in custody for every 100,000 population. (Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263251) Canadian legal standards to secure a conviction are perhaps more stringent than American standards. At the same time, Canada has a social safety net that allows our unemployed to exist without necessarily having to resort to crime.
If a cop catches someone with a crack rock, they will get about 9 months in prison. So this hardens addicts into criminals. Once someone gets out of jail there is no chance of them getting certified as a lawyer, accountant, doctor, engineer, architect, or any other professional field that requires certification. Along with that, every job can look at their criminal record. So this acts as a life sentence.
African-Americans represent about 12-14% of the population, but about 50% of the prison population. Another interesting statistic is that 33% of African-American high school drop outs end up in prison.
If you examine the World Prison List (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r188.pdf), you will find that the small countries of West Africa and Western Europe have the lowest percentage of incarcerations per 100,000 population. (Less than 100 per 100,000.) And, if you examine which people are incarcerated in most of these countries, you will find that they are new immigrants. Which should tell one that being part of a homogenous society, and knowing and sharing the values of your countrymen, will keep you from committing crimes.
Relative deprevation usually creates [envy]. Envy, bad social conditions, [and] racial discrimination, all contribute to elevate the crime rates, which naturally result[s] in a high level of imprisonments (due mainly to the good quality of the police enforcement and the effective judicial system).
In my opinion the problem is not merely the harsh laws enforced to fight drugs, but the length of the prison terms OVERALL, which tend to be much higher than for example in many European countries.
In China and Russia political dissent is viewed as a crime. In India police bribes for petty crimes like speeding is not uncommon and presumably there may be a similar attiture toward other prison-able crimes that are otherwise viewed as "victimless". In islamic countries Sharia law i.e. paedophila, domestic violence, etc. may go unpunished while crimes like robbery may be punished "on the spot" with the loss of a finger or other appendage. As for the U.S, in comparison to the Europeans, unfavourable social factors may play a role.
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