Ah, dismissal with scorn. The prerogative of authors of great books! ;-) For the rest of us, though, there is work ahead:
(http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62)
===== State prisons held a total of 1,296,700 inmates on all charges at yearend 2005. In absolute numbers an estimated 687,700 inmates in State prison at yearend 2005 (the latest year for which offense data is available) were held for violent offenses: 166,700 for murder, 177,900 for robbery, 129,200 for assault, and 164,600 for rape and other sexual assaults. In addition, 248,900 inmates were held for property offenses, 253,300 for drug offenses, and 98,700 for public- order offenses. =====
Let's head over to the self-service ;-) calculator:
Total for violent offences (murder, assault, rape) = 460500 Total for ambiguous category (robbery) = 177900 Total for arguable non-crimes (drug, property, public offences) = 600900
Factor in racism, the number of coerced plea bargains, and so on, and suddenly the human on the wrong side of the podium starts to sound more believable. To really answer her objection, of course, we need to know what the crimes against "property" were, the details of the robberies, etc.
We can look at it another way: unless you are given to some sort of crude biologism or equivalent over-simplification, you are confronted by the paradox of US incarceration rates which match some of the most repressive regimes in the world -- the very regimes w.r.t which we, including writers of great books, would quickly proclaim innocence for a good number of those it imprisons. Yes?
--ravi, way over quota