Why does the USA have so many people in jail?

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I am interested to hear everyone's ideas about why US has more people in jail than any other country in the world

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As a culture, we like punishment and revenge.It's considered weak and "liberal" to have compassion, to try to understand the source of crime, to take the long view of crime as a result of socioeconomic factors.We are a cowboy culture, hindered by a chronic inability to see anything in any terms other than black and white, emotional terms.

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I would not even bother to charge a person who stole from me after the police caught him. I would simply find him on a later date and recover damages myself.

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Yeah, vigilante justice is surely the answer for a safe and orderly society.

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I have a neighbour who spent some time in prison many years ago. Today he's 65 and the most honest and loyal fellow you'd ever want to meet. Something worked.

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My former workplace of 7 years hired in quite a few people over the years from a drug/alcohol rehab facility. Not every one of them worked out but most of them became long-time employees and quite a few rose to hold positions of responsibility.

Thanks.

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There are a significant number of illegal aliens (i.e. undocumented criminals) that are in the prisons.

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They don't all come here to work honestly.

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1) What is the percentage of illegal aliens incarcerated in the US?2) How is it known that they came here in order to do crime, as opposed to coming here to find honest work and falling into crime through desperation?

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Trying not to carry this too far OT, but the fact they are here is a crime.

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Yes, I know. But are the incarcerated illegals that TC was referring to put in jail because they were in the country illegally, or because they committed a different crime while in the US?

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You seem to be saying that crimes should be ignored if they were done for a GOOD motive.

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I don't believe this, no.

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And in addition, if the GOOD motive doesn't work out and additional crimes are committed, it's okay?

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No, not at all.It seemed to me that what TC was implying is that many of the illegal immigrants who come here intend to lead a life of crime in the US, such as becoming a thief or drug dealer or pimp.I wonder if this is actually based in fact.I suspect that it is not.This message has been edited by schrafinator, 04-06-2006 06:02 PM

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Influx of criminals is just one reason to stop the inflow of illegal aliens.

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What is the estimated percentage of illegal aliens who come to the US with the intent to perpetrate crime?

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Low cost labor from illegal aliens, while nice for the employers who can skip minimum wage laws, is overall a bad idea, especially in the long term.

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How much more are you willing to pay for your meat and produce at the grocery store?

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What's wrong with revenge?

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Revenge is childish and unproductive.It does nothing at all to solve the problem of crime.

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In 2004: Steven Camorata, Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies said "Roughly 17 percent of the prison population at the federal level are illegal aliens. That's a huge number since illegal aliens only account for about 3 percent of the total population."

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OK, but how many of those people came here with the premeditated intent to do crime?

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It produces justice. How is that unproductive?

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Maybe sometimes it does.I think that much of the time it just gratifies the base, childish instinct to lash out when injured.Revenge has nothing to do with reason or logic.

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No, it does. It punishes offenders and acts as a deterrent in many cases. And it's a crucial step that heals victims

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Revenge doesn't heal. It is merely a fulfilled desire to cause pain upon those who caused you pain.Revenge is the act of sinking to the level of the one who injured you. It is as far from healing and moving on with your life as you can get. You become no better than those who made you a victim.Justice, however, does heal.We know that the death penalty does not deter crime.

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I believe all farm subsidies should be phased out. They distort the value of inputs and outputs in agriculture and do not encourage sound environmental management of agricultural resources, not to mention depressing the value of exports from developing countries that so desperately need to get a fair price for their cash crops.

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I disagree.Subsidies to small farmers and farmers who work the land in an ecologically-sound fashion and who hire legal workers and treat them humanely should have incentives to continue doing so. That way the sticker shock at the grocery store could be eased.The large corporate farms which pollute and deplete the land and hire undocumented workers, all to keep costs down, should get nothing.

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Your angry-filled ranting and raving seems to indicate (although not stated explicitly by you) that you resent Americans having so much money, and that is not fair, and it should be taken from us and given to the billions of poor folks around the world.
So, until you actually state something like that, I am not really calling you a communist (my statement was a jest in response to the "L" word response of someone else).

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If you don't like "ranting and raving", then why don't you respond to EZscience's Message #70] in this thread?I thought it an exceptionally calm, fact-filled, very well-reasoned, intelligent post that very effectively countered your position.I'd be very interested in what you have to say.

Nobody here is fooled, TC.You likely haven't substantively responded to EZ's message because you cannot counter the points he's made.I am willing to listen to your counterpoints, but all you have done so far, for the most part, is piled derision and condescention upon everyone who disagrees with you instead of engaging in debate.I know who has come off looking like they are avoiding discussing the issues, and that's you. This message has been edited by AdminPD, 04-14-2006 11:44 AM