USA has the highest incarceration rate. Why?

[Alby_da_Wolf]

MARCUSDJACKSON said:

Marks said:

MARCUSDJACKSON said:

Marks said:

MARCUSDJACKSON said:
because of racial profiling

I hope that's a joke.

 

And my answer to the OP's question is like the Clash said in the song "I'm So Bored With the USA"...because killers in America work 7 days a week. i.e. Americans commit a shit ton of crime. 

Well that and because cops in America seem like dicks from what I've seen on shows like Cops. They arrest people just to look tough and show their authority. People get arrested for having small amounts of pot, underage drinking, etc. They need to focus on major crimes like murder, rape, theft, etc. and less on harmless crimes like pot posession and underage drinking, etc. 

why the guy with the coolest shirt ever? why man?

no i'm not joking.

Well it is undeniable that there's racism in the US but I just don't think that's why there's such a high incarceration rate in the US. 

Could you expand on your point though about racial profiling leading to higher incarceration rates please? Are you talking about policemen being racist and arresting people based on colour...or are you talking more about the court system sentencing people based on race?

both in a way. i understand theres more to it then that, but why are more then 80% of jail's in every state are filled with minorities? i don't beleive half that percentage commit crimes.

i agree with your first post.

I don't believe it either: here in Italy with have a lot of immigrants, they are a lot, but they are minorities anyway, and while illegal ones have higher than average crime rates, regular ones have lower ones, they are actually more honest than the Italian average. Minorities integrated in the society for decennia or even centuries should have around the same crime rate of the majority, unless there be still forms of discrimination, both in the way they are judged and in the opportunities they are given to get a decent life. And one thing I never understood is why no big mafia boss has ever been sentenced to death in USA. Just this fact should force any honest judge to apply death penalty only to the worst serial killers, otherwise there wouldn't be equal treatment between the common thug that killed one person during a robbery and is sentenced to death and the boss that ordered many killings and countless other crimes, but receives a milder penalty.