Congratulations USA...1 in 100 Americans are in Jail!!!!
Posted on February 29, 2008 11:28 AM
A recent study by The Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project, which compiled the data from state and federal sources, said 2,319,258 people were in prison at the beginning of the year after an increase of more than 25,000 people during 2007.
That's a lot of f*cking people. Especially considering that most of these folks are people of color. I know some critics will say that people need to commit less crimes. But I personally think we need to make systematic changes to the American justice system
(Note to readers: some of the comments below highlight that I was wrong for saying that there are more people of color in jail than white people. I think they might be just thinking about black people. But take a look at this graph.
Not only are far too many people in prison for non-violent drug offenses, but experts like Marc Mauer from the Sentencing Project also argue that young people of color are consistently convicted at higher rates than white folks who commit the same crimes. Of course, that's not new news if you have ever been profiled by police before. (I personally have been pulled over by cops more than 30 times in my life. Most times I get pulled over for some mysterious reason that never ends up in a ticket.)
Congratulations America...you are one step closer to being a police state.
Isn't this something! When I read this shit last night, I was perplexed. Prison is big business.
I seen these stats on "Good Morning America" earlier today.
They also said that
1 in 39 Hispanics are in jail
and
1 in 15 African Americans are in jail
Stats like these are always misleading, so I wouldn't take offense if I were you. You have to take in consideration the fact that Africian Americans are a minorty, so the total number of Africian is probably less than the number of Whites that are in jail. I wonder they didn't post the total number?
I wonder what the stats would look like for rappers in jail. lol
i read the blogs on this site all the time, but never was compelled to make comment. first i am a carreer woman, fulfulling my dreams and a very productive citizen of this nation. xmas i pulled over on 95 south, doing the speed limit. why was i pulled over, i can only assume profiling. my fiance bought me a car 2 years ago....customed with rims, televisions and what not. a friendly trip to florida to see fam and i get pulled for no reason. i guess the cop expected a black male to be behind the wheel. he calls me to the back of the car and asks me questions like is this my car, where i am from, who is sitting on the passenger, where is my son seated in the car. i amswer, but ask why am i pulled over. HIS ANSWER.....and i quote...for one your tag is illegal in GA, and i researched and it is not. there was a rimming on the tag that said ext 184, referring to where the car was purchased. yea right....he questioned my passengers, found nothing. flashed his light on my ash tray, praying for a reason to search. NOTHING, he says ur free to go and tell ur fiance to change ur tag. total BS if u ask me. i was so upset as i continued my trip for xmas. this countries legal system is a joke. only in america crack convicts get more time than cocaine offenses...same drug. only in this country a man molest children and gets probation..a few years and drug offenses get 15 years. the system is built against blacks. not saying that what some of us do isnt wrong. but the punishment should fit the crime. most convictions of the black race are drug offenses. i could go on and on, but u should get the picture and i how i feel about this coutry´s judicial system. perverts run free, where are the real priorities?
Gives a new meaning to the term '...drug dealer businesses control america'.
im from the uk and my moms is a probation officer, if peeps here never broke the law she wouldnt be able to pay her mortage.
thats real talk.
These generally inacurate statistics do more harm than help. They practically serve as systematic proof to back up sterotypes. Too many people don't understand the #'s and end up believing these virtually unchallenged figures to be 100 % factual. Which among other things adds to the stress and overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and low-self worth that so many minorites already suffer with. Psychological slavery is way more effective than chains and whips.
@ cola says...
I FEEL WHAT YOU ARE SAYING BOO BUT THE OFFICER WAS CORRECT I LIVE IN GEORGIA AND IT IS ILLEGAL TO HAVE ANY TRIMMING AROUND YOUR TAG I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS IN A CAR THAT WAS PULLED FOR IT, ITS BECAUSE THE COUNTY ON OUR TAGS IS AT THE BOTTOM AND THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE IT BUT IF YOU HAD A OUT OF TOWN TAG HE DIDNT HAVE ANY REASON TO ROPE YOU UP I WANT TO SEND A BIG FUCK YOU TO ALL CROOKED ASS COPS NOT ALL COPS JUST THE CROOKED ONES!!!
yo stampeeder.....fuk ya moms mortgage!...she can find a diffrent occupation like everybody else that doesnt want to be in law enforcement!..u dumbass!...so u saying she prays for people to break the law so she can get paid....how about somebody smacks her over the head ..then what...dumbass
I'm sure that PERCENTISTICALLY speaking, more folks of color are locked up. GROSSISTICALLTY speaking, white folks take the cake. Same with WELFARE and other social programs.
You know? I think I have a solution for crime..........PUBLIC JUDGEMENTS. If the media shows a crack house being raided, it means nothing. The house next to it may be a crack house. The house down the street may be a crack house. But, if a CRACKHEAD is stoned to a point where his nose falls onto the street on public television, that will deter most aspiring CRACKHEADS from lightin' up.
If the media reports that police rounded up 25 PROSTITUTES in an undercover sting, it means nothing. That quiet lady next door might start turning tricks because she's hungry and her rent is due. The pastor's wife might turn to hookin' because she's horny and crazy. But, if PROSTITUTES are rounded up and bull-whipped until their eyeballs fall out of their sockets on national TV, countless women and young girls may just keep their legs closed until they find their one true love.
Now, I know this seems extreme, but, MANY people, reguardless of race, really do need their asses whooped in public.
note from biko
dog...you are a fool! I hope you are playing. Because if not I challenge you to write a blog post about this...give your real analysis for why this is a good way to handle crime in our communities.
Ill post it. and then post a response.
racism doesnt exist more
i thought it would be more like 40 out of 100 in jail, considering that the black race makes up 40% of the population, hmmmm? surprising
Totally agree...this is similar to when they were fighting against the Rockefeller laws....Prisons are big business and I'm a puerto rican male and have been profiled many times (good old New Jersey state troopers!) tho I've encountered no profiling since I moved to Texas.
1% of Americans are in jail. And this is surprising how? Let's be honest for a minute, Latinos and blacks are the majority of the people in jail. We can blame it on unjust laws, society, or white people. That is what we have been doing anyway, but when are we going to realize that maybe we're to blame? In the US nobody has kids at a younger age than us. And kids do not know how to raise other kids. Is it surprising that our children grow up with no direction?
note from biko
All reports show that white people commit as many crimes as any other racial group. Their communities are just policed less and are less likely to be caught.
people don't want to believe it but....this stuff is true.
NOTE to Biko:
I am joking. Public beatings and whoopings are barbaric. But, obviously, jail isn't detering folks from acting a fool. We do need to make examples of the hardest-of-the-hardest criminals. You know, those who CAN'T be and WILL NOT be rehabilitated. I'm not totally against seeing dumb asses getting whooped on TV.
prison is big bizness fo sho. The comments to this blog are a bit discouraging, but i guess "real talk". I think that the idea of punishment and incarceration as a justification for "socially unaccepted behavior" (which is subjective) has permeated our culture so much today that it is accepted without criticism. Even though this ideological perspective now implemented into laws (and affecting people of color most--I dont need a stat to tell me that) is a construction of white men in order to maintain power and control of newly freed slaves and serfs. And I'm not condoning the acts of murderers and rapists, but a significant amount of prisoners are serving time for self-destructive behavior and non-violent crimes. My one night spent in the county jail was enough to understand that being locked up isnt rehabilitative, its slavery. My point is that you should feel no obligation to defend the Justice System. The prison system is a growing and profitable industry, and the more bodies inside/the more scrilla being made. STOP TAKING 'SOCIETAL RULES' AS A GIVEN--catz have been brainwashed for far too long. Viva la Raza/Power to the People/All that Good Stuff HOLLA
America is Babylon!
Make note of this. Crime is just gonna get worse. Our children are being brainwashed by the beast (media). Take a look into the illuminati, skull and bones, MWO. Our life is a prison! Since birth we have been conrtolled. Mark my words Greed, Jelousy, Hate, Sexual Perversion are just going to increase. America uses sex and greed to conrtol us. We base our self worth on social status and money. Wake up!
thank you rojo for the spittin the truth. America is turning into to a nationalized police state. We have just signed an agreement with Canada giving our military the right to cross their borders to help them with terrorist threats, civil disobedience, and other "so called" threats to their country. This same Agreement allows the Canadian Army to do the same thing to our country. They also want to make Mexico, Canada, and the USA one country, and call it the North American Union. America is a Facist government, that is a fact, so it's no suprise that we have the most people in the world incarcerated, and this is the Land of the free?
FREE MY NIGGA D, MY NIGGA DERRICK, MY NIGGA LIL DIRTY! DEM CRACKAZ BAN MY NIGGA HE WAS 17, YOUNG NIGGA DON'T EVEN KNO WUT ALL THAT TIME MEAN! PUSSY ASS CRACKAZ DONE SHATTERED MY NIGGA DREAMS! HOLLIN MANDATORY WANT HIM TO DO DA WHOLE THANG!.............. IM TIRED OF LOOSIN ALL MY NIGGAZ TO DA CHAIN GANG....... CRACKAZ OVA SENTENCING NIGGAZ WHEN DIS SHYT GONE CHANGE?........ PUSSY ASS CRACKAZ TRYIN TO GIVE MY NIGGA LIL DIRTY 100 YRS
FREE MY NIGGA D, MY NIGGA DERRICK, MY NIGGA LIL DIRTY! DEM CRACKAZ BAN MY NIGGA HE WAS 17, YOUNG NIGGA DON'T EVEN KNO WUT ALL THAT TIME MEAN! PUSSY ASS CRACKAZ DONE SHATTERED MY NIGGA DREAMS! HOLLIN MANDATORY WANT HIM TO DO DA WHOLE THANG!.............. IM TIRED OF LOOSIN ALL MY NIGGAZ TO DA CHAIN GANG....... CRACKAZ OVA SENTENCING NIGGAZ WHEN DIS SHYT GONE CHANGE?........ PUSSY ASS CRACKAZ TRYIN TO GIVE MY NIGGA LIL DIRTY 100 YRS
Good Stuff. I blame the system for the not being fair in how it issues out time. Though I'm sure the fact that more non-ethnic people have the resources to acquire better lawyers and maybe even more influence in the system as well. I blame parents of people of color too for not make their children a higher priority. Then I think we need more programs that give the ethnic people coming home a chance to get them sells together and keep the cycle of in and out of the prison system from continuing.
Maybe black folks need to stop doin so many crimes! We need to stop being pimps and start getting educated and getting good jobs. Enough of this crime shit already!
The male/female ratio in jail is 10:1, but this seems to go unnoticed.
Since there are as many males as females in the US, it makes sense to conclude this ratio is at least partly caused by genetic differences, right?
This might also be the case with racial ratio's in jail, if any.
And I'm sure when measuring shoe sizes, we can make a nice statistic linking shoe size to crime. But I don't see the use in that either.
Whatever the case, best against prejudice, racism and sexism is to ignore discriminating statistics, stop pointing fingers at others, try to be a good citizen yourself and respect the legal system (despite possible flaws).
The detoriating economy is the main culprit in nowadays crime statistics no doubt.