Why does America have the highest incarceration rate...

[Rodney Nelson]

One reason is there is no reform while people are in prison. They should have to go through reform and preparation to get out. Need to show they can get a job, or they have to learn a new trade, need to get rehabilitation for any and all reasons someone is in jail. They need to slowly move out to be on there own. transition apartments, etc. This will stop people from going back to their previous ways. Imagine this, sex offender goes to jail for 7 years and is not required to do one day of rehabilitation while in jail.... crazy.

[rfuerst911sc]

What is the intended result of incarceration ? Is it solely to punish the individual for the crime ? Is it to punish and attempt to rehabilitate ? I don't think the majority of prisoners are provided a chance to rehabilitate . And to be honest I am not sure how much effort if any should be provided .

The saying doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insane comes to mind . The majority of US citizens go through life as law abiding and give more to society then they take ( my opinion ) . But a certain % can't/don't and it is for a variety of reasons . That % of individuals is made up of a cross section of society meaning it is all races and economic means .

It is obvious for some criminals the justice system is a revolving door . Do we just lock them up and throw away the key ? Do we execute to eliminate that individual ? Do we attempt to rehabilitate ? I don't pretend to have any answers but as a law abiding citizen I do have concerns.

[flatbutt]

Rehabilitation has always been a Liberal dream. Imprisonment has always been intended to keep bad actors away from good people. Having never been imprisoned I can only imagine that inside prison walls every day is like "Escape from New York" written small.

[Nick Triesch]

A good friend of mine was a high ranking government INS agent. He told me that 30% of the prison population was illegal folks . People do not realize a lot of crime comes from these people. So, there is your reason.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Because of guns, drugs, and 'the war on drugs'. Beyond that it's parf...

Yep.

2016
How the war on drugs affected incarceration rates
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/jul/10/cory-booker/how-war-drugs-affected-incarceration-rates/

In 1980, about 41,000 people were incarcerated for drug crimes, according to the Sentencing Project. In 2014, that number was about 488,400 — a 1,000 percent increase.

[thor66]

what are the stats. on re-offending?

by state; by crime; etc.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

What is the intended result of incarceration ? Is it solely to punish the individual for the crime ? Is it to punish and attempt to rehabilitate ?

I don't think there is a coherent purpose for incarceration in this country.
I don't think enough emphasis is placed on the needs of law abiding citizens. That means:

1. Not taxing us to death to giving free room and board to the incarcerated for extended periods of time
2. Returning the incarcerated to society equipped to function in society as non-criminals.

[Instrument 41]

All of this talk about Reforming or rehabilitating in prison. What is to to reform if it had never been formed? That's why they are in prison. You can make something of an individual if it wasn't there in the first place.

[Fast Freddy 944]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

in the world? Try and keep this out of Parf.

Fatherless families, liberal puke teachers teaching our kids to be stupid, liberal lawyers letting animals out into the streets. liberals in office. parf away..

[911Ghia]

Many parts of the world the police carry fully automatic weapons.

Rich

[ben parrish]

Oh man...in a nut shell....no real moral compass is being taught any longer in much of our nation. I still believe most people are good but the “bad ones” are really bad. By the time they make it to prison, it is most likely too late to rehabilitate most of them because they have little in the way of a clear idea of right and wrong and even less exposure to “why you need to do the right thing”.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Oh man...in a nut shell....no real moral compass is being taught any longer in much of our nation. I still believe most people are good but the “bad ones” are really bad. By the time they make it to prison, it is most likely too late to rehabilitate most of them because they have little in the way of a clear idea of right and wrong and even less exposure to “why you need to do the right thing”.

^^^ A very accurate description !

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Oh man...in a nut shell....no real moral compass is being taught any longer in much of our nation. I still believe most people are good but the “bad ones” are really bad. By the time they make it to prison, it is most likely too late to rehabilitate most of them because they have little in the way of a clear idea of right and wrong and even less exposure to “why you need to do the right thing”.

My sister was a prosecutor in South Carolina for over twenty years.

She put some really horrific people away. She said they nearly all shared the same trait: "dead eyes".

In a twist of fate, my son in now a defense attorney in Norfolk. He hasn't worked any heinous cases (yet) but he spends a lot of time in the prison system around Virginia. The stories would be funny if they weren't true, especially the juveniles.

They also share a common trait: They are stupid and they lie with abandon...again, the stories are really funny because the level of idiocy is such that you think they almost want to get caught.

[thor66]

well, if they were smart they'd be white collar criminals

[Nick Triesch]

Really, who cares ?

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by Fast Freddy 944

Fatherless families, liberal puke teachers teaching our kids to be stupid, liberal lawyers letting animals out into the streets. liberals in office. parf away..

So the root cause is lawyers and teachers? Incarceration rate are high because lawyers are getting criminals out of jail. Got it.

[T77911S]

cut one nut off first offense, the other for the second and the hot dog off for the 3rd,.


crime would go down.

we problem have the nicest and easiest prison system in the world.

[red 928]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/1-600-canadians-held-in-foreign-prisons-majority-in-the-u-s-1.2253459
Overall, 1,590 Canadians are in prison outside the country, according to figures provided by Canada's Foreign Affairs department, accurate to Oct. 10.
The bulk of them — 1,097 — are behind bars in the United States. The rest are in prisons in more than 85 other countries.