# WHY are so many Americans in prison/jail/on parole? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694 "2012-07-19T07:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![humblebumble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@humblebumble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/humblebumble)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/61 "2012-07-22T01:51:34Z")
I think it has to do with punishing rather than rehabilitating. I think prisons exist for the sole purpose of punishing people for their actions. They are there to make examples out of people meaning that if you want to stay out of prison, don’t do what this person did. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/62 "2012-07-22T01:59:21Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > And I insist on believing that harsher sentences keep the miscreants locked away where they can’t commit crimes against me. > > My wife and I practice, and have taught our kids a concept that apparently eludes a portion of the populace. We call it “Not Breaking the Law”. Amazingly, this simple idea seems to keep you outside the prison walls. > > I have zero sympathy for criminals, and make it crystal clear to my elected representatives that I want the bastards locked up. The longer the better. > > I would assume a large contingent like myself is part of the answer to the OPs question. is it lonely, up there on your pedestal? seriously, get over yourself. what if one of your kids got popped for a DUI or possession or some other offense? yes, i know, you didn’t raise your kids that way and they’d never dream of doing such a thing. it could never possibly happen to you. but imagine for a moment that it did, and tell me you would say “well, son, that’s too bad. i hope they lock you up and throw away the key.” of course you wouldn’t. you’d scramble to get them the best possible legal defense and sign over your home so they could make bail and basically do everything in your power to make sure they never saw the inside of a cell. hit up a support forum for parents of inmates sometime, and listen to how many of those people taught their children not to break the law, and where their kids ended up anyway, for various and sundry reasons, and get some perspective into your holier than thou, narrow minded view of life. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/63 "2012-07-22T02:03:22Z")
> [@humblebumble](#): > > I think it has to do with punishing rather than rehabilitating. I think prisons exist for the sole purpose of punishing people for their actions. They are there to make examples out of people meaning that if you want to stay out of prison, don’t do what this person did. of course they do. the term “correctional facility” is a joke. you don’t think they actually mean to rehabilitate anyone, do you? not a single person in the history of ever has been rehabilitated by the prison system. the best that can possibly happen is that the ex-con manages to turn their life around in spite of their prison experience. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/64 "2012-07-23T16:33:38Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Excellent speech. One interesting statistic she mentioned is that there are more blacks in prisons now than were slaves just before the Civil War, and most are in prison from drug charges. According to the DOJ study I mentioned before, neither of these things are close to being true. There were 588,000 black inmates in 2010. In 1860 the slave population was estimated in the US census as 3.95 million. According to the DOJ study only 21% of black inmates are in prison for drug offenses ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/65 "2012-07-23T16:51:39Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > One the flip side there are plenty of Americans willing to be stupid enough to BE criminals. > > I’d kinda like to try pot one day. But guess what? I could get in deep legal shit for it. Spend a ton of money so my lawyer can pay for his big assed boat. Never get a security clearance or have one revoked. Not be able to work in my field anymore. > > So, guess what? I’ve never tried it, don’t hang around with people when they are using it (or hang around with cronic users that are most likely always carrying the stuff with them). Because I know the war on drugs is serious shit and could fuck up my life. > > Those poor people caught in the war on drugs? Most of them did it to themselves. Its not rocket science people. > > Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the war on drugs is mostly bad and stupid mkay? But good grief, if you know you are going to get shafted for using…uhhh don’t fucking use. > > And that also goes for other types of criminals. > > Now people that got framed for drug possesion or poor Bob that was found guilty of that burgalry when it was John that did it or Smitty that was actually a petty criminal but he was just doing it so he could feed his starving children. > > Yeah, those people have my sympathy. > > Most of the rest, not so much. > > Whats that saying? Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time? I post this only to fight ignorance, not to say your opinion isn’t valid. Most drug users and those involved in the “scene” especially for pot consider it part of a culture they belong to, rather than miscreant fun like say petty vandalism or joy riding. It is part of their identity and who they are, you might think that is sad but it is what it is, it isn’t JUST enjoying the high. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/66 "2012-07-25T15:55:14Z")
For the most part people are in prison/jail/parole because they broke the law, and knew it when they did it. I can’t have much sympathy for those that did it knowingly. As to why they did it, I’d say a desire for wealth and poor self control is pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/67 "2012-07-25T18:42:17Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > For the most part people are in prison/jail/parole because they broke the law, and knew it when they did it. I can’t have much sympathy for those that did it knowingly. > > As to why they did it, I’d say a desire for wealth and poor self control is pretty much it. Why are people not reading the question? Even the subject line? The question is about the disproportionate percentage of people imprisoned in the U.S. _compared to other countries_. “Gosh, why do you suppose anyone anywhere is in prison?” “Oh, generally it’s because they broke the law.” That’s not a very thought-provoking discussion, now is it? ---
**Author:** ![ecoaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@ecoaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecoaster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/68 "2012-07-26T14:12:59Z")
Read this[Book](http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595581030). ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/69 "2012-07-26T14:20:59Z")
We have a lot of factors somewhat unique to America that contibute to a larger than average prison population. #1 we have more police officers investigating crime. #2. We have a lot more wealth in this country and temptation. #3. We have a minorities that have failed for many reasons not always their own fault to move up into the main stream economicaly. #4. We are a spoiled society, lacking in general moral principles ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694/70 "2012-07-26T15:06:03Z")
> [@badger5149](#): > > #2. We have a lot more wealth in this country and temptation. I think it’s more that the wealth is so concentrated to a relatively small number of people, which causes social strife. I don’t think it’s that we have more for people to tempted about, they’re just angry about the injustice. If we had the same amount of wealth but it was distributed more evenly, that would reduce crime. > [@](#): > > #4. We are a spoiled society, lacking in general moral principles It does seem like the “fuck you, I got mine” attitude is more prevalent here, if that’s what you mean. I think there’s a lot more competition and pressure here in some ways than there is in, say, Scandinavian countries. They’re not expected to produce, produce, produce, and acquire, acquire, acquire to the exclusion of other important aspects of life. So people who can’t acquire enough on their own and see the people at the top mostly just not caring, sometimes they make their own means. And the people at the top do commit a LOT of white collar crime also, which shows that attitude is not at all limited to the lower class. The upper class just has the ability to do it “clean” and nonviolently. I think they’re the one group that MIGHT be deterred by very harsh sentences. Coincidentally, they’re also the ones who often don’t get harsh sentences. And there we continue the cycle of social strife. In case anyone hasn’t seen this super nice [Norwegian prison](http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1989083_2137380_last,00.html), it’s interesting to see. It is hard to believe that people going to that prison have lower recidivism rates than people going to our hellhole prisons. But it’s true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-americans-in-prison-jail-on-parole/628694.md?page=3)