Neither is violent crime, according to David Simon (creator of The Wire) who claims that when he started as a police beat reporter for the Baltimore Sun, violent criminals comprised 33-34 percent of the federal prison population but now, they are only 7-8 percent. That was in a Bill Moyers’ Journal interview, April 17, 2009. Overall, drug-related imprisonments are up 1,200 percent, drug offenders comprise 53 percent of the federal prison population. Crime rates are in decline after peaking 2 decades ago, but you can't tell that from the climbing incarceration rates. Monthly Review just posted a lengthy article on the "prison-industrial complex" topic. http://www.monthlyreview.org/090601holleman-mcchesney-foster-jonna.php
On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 9:01 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
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> Given that those are other countries with high incarceration rates and large drug problems.
See the link, Chart 4, for per capita prisoners. Where did Rwanda come from, did anyone see that coming?
Percy