<DIV>I really don't know. As far as I know, it was very high. It has certainly dropped a great deal despite the huge violent crime increase, probably because a) a lot of things that used to be illegal aren't anymore (like "economic crimes"), b) the Russian polce by and large are not a lean, mean crime-fighting machine, and c) sentences are being cut, alternative sentencing has gained a lot of ground, and a lot of people are being pardoned or let out early. I think the Russian prison population has shrunk by 200,000-300,000 just in the past two years.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There was of course a whole subculture of zeky during the USSR, which I assume continues. Alexandre Fenelon <afenelon@zaz.com.br> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> -----Mensagem original----- De: lbo-talk-bounces@lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces@lbo-talk.org]Em nome de Chris Doss Enviada em: quarta-feira, 31 de marco de 2004 13:26 Para: lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org Assunto: [lbo-talk] Prison populations, Russia vs. US ? What's the percentage in the US? According to this, about 1 in 145 million Russians is in prison. -You wanted to say 1/145, right? In the USA this relation is abaout 1/140 (0,7% of total population) -Btw: What was the incarceration rate for FSU. Eric Hobsbawn claims it was 0,28% in 1985 (vs 0,45% in USA-Age of extremes) Alexandre --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.639 / Virus Database: 408 - Release Date: 22/03/04 ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=23609/*http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/static/index2.html">Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway</a> - Enter today