Sat 1 Mar 2008
Yesterday we were greeted with the news that, thanks to the all-encompassing Daddy-Statism this country has fallen for, 1 out of every 100 US adults is in prison. We actually lock up a higher percentage of our population than China, and they’re an authoritarian regime! Us beating them at locking up people is like if Lebron James lost a dunk contest to Will Ferrell.
Despite the obvious implications behind this, what do I get greeted with on the front page of the Washington Post’s website (screen-capture below, click the thumbnail)?
I figured that had to be a sarcastic remark, intentionally provocative so that people click on it. They’ve had writers do that before, gotta admit it works. Sadly…no:
More Americans than ever are in prison. We incarcerate a higher percentage of the population than any other country. It’s too bad we have such a high rate of criminality–but given that we do, I’m glad we have been putting more people behind bars over the last generation.
It isn’t an ideal solution. It may be that we need to find other ways to deal with nonviolent offenders. We should surely address the appalling problem of prison rape. Hiring more police officers and putting them on the street might help, too.
But increased rates of imprisonment have helped to bring about falling rates of crime. Given the alternative of the way we treated crime in the 1960s and 1970s, when I see a headline about a record incarceration rate, I’m glad. Aren’t you? (emphasis mine)
That’s none other than Ramesh Ponnuru, kicking off a thread in WaPos message board section by praising this development. Closest he comes to criticism is faux concern for “criminality” among his fellow Americans, and a toss at prison rape (as if that’s the only problem with this).
Common sense would tell someone that if you make rules that are so contradictory and/or nit-picky of personal habits that directly harm no one that much of the population is a suspect, then the problem is the rules, not the people. Ramesh is wrong on this issue in more ways than one can even count…
March 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
If you want to get even more pissed off, lurk on some of the police community boards around the web. Start here.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Wow…somehow the comments there actually managed to be worse than I expected. Especially the ones about sending ‘em to Cuba, and dude from Florida blaming a lack of Jeebus, gawddamn…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
That was precisely my reaction. Don’t even think about trying to engage in a mature discussion with them, either, unless you support law enforcement with unquestioning vigor. Holy shit you will never see whining, insults, and threats like you will if you attempt to suggest that maybe it’s not all the bad guys fault.
It’s the absolute worst forum behavior I’ve ever seen. New professionalism my ass. I’m actually trying to pull together formal (such as research, articles by law enforcement writers, etc.) and informal (forums, blogs, etc.) sources of police opinion on the web to see if I can get a little more attention on the personalities behind the badges.