I believe this conversation evolved from a discussion about why there's lots of worldwide hatred for America.
Well, most of the world is not white and most of those non-whites are involved in religions which vary from the kinds of religion practiced by virtually all, if not all, of America's presidents and vice presidents. Interestingly, religion, as much as it's not supposed to be, has always been a great source for hatred of one to the other. Sad, but true!
In the course of the discussion I also pointed out that America's small percent of the world's population utilizes a tremendous imbalance of the world's energy and resources.
I further stated America is caught in a contradiction because it prides itself on liberty but places more folks per capita in jail than other nations in the world and that there are statistics to how that with five to six percent of the world's population our nation imprisons 25 percent of those currently in jails everywhere.
You challenged my statistic and I then proved it existed. However, you didn't appreciate my source(s) with your objection being something like you don't rely on info from groups like Amnesty International or Greenpeace. But I cited a multiplicity of sources, not just groups like those you mentioned.
For clarity sakes, let's look at the imprisonment information from the below sources, some of which I'm certain you will find credible and sources which clearly show the trend as to what's going on in America in terms of putting its people in jail.
Here's the same statistic, as quoted in the Monthly Review:
>>>The U.S. is the world leader in both death sentences and incarcerations. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we hold 25 percent of the prisoners.<<<
monthlyreview.org
And note the below information cited within comes from the United States Census Bureau:
msnbc.com
Perhaps, Edscharp, you'll find a representative from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics a better source for what's going on:
>>>Over the past two decades, the number of adults in the corrections system has tripled, so they now make up 3.1 percent of the country's adult population, compared with 1 percent in 1980, said Allen J. Beck, a chief researcher with the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.<<<
Or an Associated Press study perhaps:
>>>The number of adults behind bars, on parole or on probation reached a record 6.47 million in 2000--or one in
32 American adults, the government reported Sunday, according to the Associated Press....During the 1990s,
AP said, the corrections population increased 49 percent. By the end of last year, there were 2.1 million more adults
in the system than there were in 1990....The rate of growth was 2 percent between 1999 and 2000, compared with an average of 4 percent during the 1990s. Beck attributed the slowing growth to the cumulative effect of a general drop in crime rates that began in the 1990s.<<<
And, of course, Department of Health and Human Services data showing whites use drugs more than blacks is noteworthy, especially since blacks serve prison time for drugs more than do whites:
mapinc.org
And then there's the U.S. Justice Department Report relative to moms and dads behind bars:
fcnetwork.org
Regarding drug prohibition overall, here's some more interesting reference:
cedro-uva.org
And even more:
hr95.org
In closing, I think I've had my say on this subject. I've thought long nad hard on it and I have my own conclusions. If your conclusion is such that everything's OK, well I respectfully recommend reexamining that position. Fare ye well! |
