> [WS:] So if you believe that there are no jobs available, how do you
> explain
> the undocumented immigration to the US in search of jobs? It stands to
> reason that there must be jobs available, if people abroad are taking
> considerable risk and cost to come here to work, no? So it follows that
> these jobs are also available to the domestic population, which
> demonstrates
> that structural joblessness is an unlikely culprit of high incarceration
> rate of the US population.
It demonstrates just the opposite. Structurally, these jobs are going to undocumented immigrants because of the wage and standard-of-living differential between the US and Mexico. The wages they make on these jobs aren't enough for a family to live on--certainly not a wage that any decent leftist would ask a family to live on--but these workers send the money back home where it *is* enough for their families. (This is why you don't see any Canadians working those jobs.) That aside, I wasn't making an assertion. It was a question. But yours is no answer.
> I agree with Jordan on this - high incarceration is caused by high crime
> rates and a relative efficiency of the US justice system vis a vis many
> other countries, like for example Russia. I also believe that the causes
> of
> those high crime rates are social rather than economic, especially the
> proliferation of violent subcultures, cult of violence, and easy access to
> guns.
I work in the US justice system. It *is* efficient, to be sure, but that's about all I can say for it. In fact, it's so efficient, it forces many innocent people in prison, taking plea deals for crimes they never committed to avoid a worse fate. Your social explanation for crime--even if true--is no explanation at all. It only raises the question of the source of cultures of violence. And even economists already know that answer: cultures of violence are a response to wealth inequality.