The Washington Post reports that the U.S. has more people in jail than any other country in the world. Doesn't that indicate that something is wrong with the system?
More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released today.
With more than 2.3 million people behind bars at the start of 2008, the United States leads the world in both the number and the percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving even far more populous China a distant second, noted the report by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.
It is shocking that China, which is condemned regularly for human rights abuses, has far fewer people in jail than we do. China has a quarter of the world's population, and still does not have as many people in jail as we do.
One problem pointed to in the article is that this is draining state budgets, limiting the funding they can provide for education. Spending less on education and more on incarceration can only lead to a downward spiral over time.
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