Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7270607.stm

HWSNBN pointed out a news article to me on BBC regarding the US prison population in regards to the rest of the world.

While we call ourselves “The Land of the Free” we are increasingly the land of the imprisoned. Approximately one in a hundred people are behind bars, an all time high. The US has the highest prison population by a factor of 2 to 1 over the next highest imprisoned nation in the world.

It’s chilling when you look at the statistics. The US has twice as many people imprisoned per capita than South Africa (US: 750 per 100,000 South Africa: 341 per 100,000). That’s three times as many people imprisoned in Iran (222 per 100,000) and six times as many people imprisoned than China. Here’s the real statistical stunner from the article, ‘The rate of increase for prison costs was found to be six times greater than for higher education spending.’

Why are there so many more people behind bars? It’s not due to an increase in crime, simply tougher sentencing laws. The cost of this - socially, financially, and otherwise - is frightening.

Think about it the next time you say, “There ought to be a law.”