On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Jerry Milo Johnson <[email protected]>wrote:
> The statement that was made was: > > > a HUGE majority of the people incarcerated should not be. > > That is a pretty specific and damning statement. And I have seen it about > 30 times on various lists since this Zimmerman case got everyone talking > about crime. > > Huge majority. that means way over 50% to me. I would read that as over 80% > in casual reading. Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing real numbers that either back up or refute the claim. But consider this graphic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png The incarceration rate between 1925 and ~1975 was about 100/100,000, or 0.1%. Since 1975, it's climbed to 500/100,000 or 0.5%. This is a 500% growth in incarceration since roughly the time that the war on drugs started. I'm not saying that all of this is due to the war on drugs, but if it were - that would actually mean that 80% of those incarcerated are there due to the war on drugs. So, that's your 80% mark right there. Now - I know that it's very easy to argue that there are many other things that may have contributed to the rise, but in my mind at least some of this rise *HAS* to be connected to the war on drugs. Probably a significant part of it. Again - I would be just as happy as you to see harder data on the list about it. -Cameron ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:349887 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
