And that reduces recidivism rates. Our huge recidivism rate is directly due to the punitive nature of our prison system, among the worst in the civilized world.

Other nations are not throwing people in jail for non-violent crimes, as we do. Such as pot smokers eg.

A new effort, bi-partisan, surprisingly, to reduce the prison population here is having some success. Even morons like Newt Gingrich seem to have concluded that our 'no tolerance, punish, three strikes and you're out, drug laws etc, that his party are mostly responsible for, isn't working.

Alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders are now being offered with some success. Court intervention organizations are working with the judiciary to provide judges with alternative sentencing, such as community service, rehab, job training etc.

So there is now an effort to try to end those old Reagan policies, 'tough on crime', because they have been a huge failure for this society. We have too many laws that carry prison sentences. Whereas in other countries they would carry a fine.

I'll bet no other nation aside from China has enslaved their prison population to manufacturing businesses...

I don't think Americans are really that much worse than everybody else.

and every US state has a higher incarceration rate than any Western European country. The USA is also unique in the world in its extensive use of solitary confinement for prisoners (there are an estimated 80,000 US prisoners in solitary, which is more than most countries have prisoners, full stop). Long-term solitary confinement has been defined as torture by the UN.

So having 6x the population doesn't really affect the statistics.

are not adjusted based on per capita, are they?

Might have something to do with it.

Even before that, for the most part, cops here refused to arrest anyone for posession because it would unnecessarily @$!# up their lives.

And honestly now, they still don't frequently ticket, especially in college towns. It is very tedious to fill out paperwork for 50 tickets a night, so frequently it ends up being a warning and occasionally confiscation.

In New York, one out of every eight arrests - 12.7 percent - are for simple marijuana possession. But in Massachusetts, fewer than one out of every 100 arrests are for marijuana possession.
Those ratings don't include the newly legal States, but MA should be proud.

Good article. Thanks for sharing.

we have decided to essentially eliminate the difference between criminals and people with mental illnesses. Not sure what the policies are in other countries, but they probably either generate fewer mental illnesses or have stronger community methods of dealing with them.

Another caution for international comparisons--some countries don't have a big prison population because they simply kill trouble-makers rather than taking them to trial.....a result which we seem to be rapidly approaching.

We're number 1!
We're number 1!

You always have to mention MONEY to get through to Americans.

The MORALITY?

Yeah,....uh huh...

Then, of course any talk of doing a mass release gets Right Wingers all in a lather about murderers and rapists and thieves coming to get you in your bed.

Up to 20 years in prison for third offense pot possession.

Don't want to undermine free enterprise!

of course Conservatives will be proud of their lock em up policies, the cost in human lives means nothing to them.

It's a different story if you look at by race by state http://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/rates.html

And when you do that, places once thought bastions of progress like Wisconsin look multiples worse than Louisiana. Racism creates and maintains reinforcing circumstance for prejudice and discrimination.

a huge bunch!

and recommended!