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1. wadewilson says:

   February 17, 2013 at 5:49 am

   Yes, the war on drugs has been a failure.

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   • Eainsdad says:

     February 18, 2013 at 4:57 am

     Agreed. 100%.
     The powers that be need to legalize marijuana and cocaine and heroin and let people do what they are going to do anyway without the assistance of cocaine cut with rat poison and heroin cut with drain cleaner.
     The money from a modest tax on recreational drugs would pay for some serious educational improvements for everyone.

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2. Dale says:

   February 17, 2013 at 7:09 am

   whats the percentage of US population then and now?

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   • Reppy says:

     February 17, 2013 at 8:35 am

     Yes, that would be interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if the increase of incarceration is steeper, but it would certainly help with perspective.

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     • Nelson says:

       February 17, 2013 at 8:53 am

       oh come on, of course it is steeper. The US has a way higher prison pop per head than anywhere else.
       And no the war on drugs hasn’t failed, all those slaves (oh sorry prisoners) are proof of that.

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   • absent says:

     February 17, 2013 at 12:02 pm

     It’s a pretty similar situation.

     [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/U.S._incarceration_rates_1925_onwards.png[/img]

     [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Incarceration_rates_worldwide.gif[/img]

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3. Kik Dogg says:

   February 17, 2013 at 12:17 pm

   It’s a very lucrative business.

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   • Smellthatshit says:

     February 17, 2013 at 5:42 pm

     It`s just that in many states.Privatization.

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4. Tom says:

   February 17, 2013 at 2:08 pm

   We have more laws to break. It makes governments money. We elect congressmen and presidents that like money and laws. That wont change because people will vote for “security” over freedom every time.

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   • Korinthian says:

     February 18, 2013 at 6:28 am

     “More laws to break”? I’d like to see some corroboration on that.

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5. Sentinel says:

   February 17, 2013 at 3:57 pm

   There are two major judicial movements that started this trend. The failed “War on Drugs” and heavy handed “Three Strikes” rules. Both of which
   incarcerate a lot of “non-violent” offenders. People that would benefit more from being put into a (drug/job) rehabilitation program than they do from being locked away.

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   • Nurgen says:

     February 17, 2013 at 7:28 pm

     ^ this.

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     • Grendel says:

       February 17, 2013 at 7:41 pm

       Those are both in service of privitization of prisons.
       Money, money, money.
       And you wonder why your taxes are so high….?

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       • HoChunk says:

         February 19, 2013 at 4:16 pm

         I don’t, but I do wonder why Republicans never bring up prison costs when they piss & moan about higher taxes.

         Actually…no I don’t.

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6. no says:

   February 20, 2013 at 3:07 am

   As true as the above, we also saw a dramatic decrease in violent crime during this period. I was reading a scientific paper earlier today that essentially stated the cause and effect of 50% drop in violent crime starting in this period was: 25% more prison space, 25% abortion becoming legal, and 50% removing lead from gasoline 20 years prior.

   Also of note: we do house a large amount of prisoners compared to the world, but there are places where they dont keep count, and they just kill law breakers, or mutilate them and let them go.

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   • Korinthian says:

     February 20, 2013 at 10:03 am

     I agree with this guy: we should abort criminals.

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7. kangxi says:

   March 26, 2022 at 3:55 am

   Interesting graph – but it’s the wrong colour. Change the red to black & it’ll be more accurate.

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8. kangxi says:

   March 26, 2022 at 3:57 am

   … but I don’t know how or why I’m adding to a 9-yr old debate. Why is this post presented at the top of page 1?

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   • tiki god says:

     March 26, 2022 at 4:24 pm

     there’s a “live posts” section there now that shows posts that people are currently looking at.

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