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    America’s incarceration rate is in decline

    (www.theatlantic.com)
    234 points paulpauper | 12 comments | 25 Jun 25 17:14 UTC | HN request time: 1.483s | source | bottom
    1. rawgabbit ◴[25 Jun 25 17:56 UTC] No.44380072[source]▶
    This is good news. The level of crime and number of offenders has decreased.

    Quotes from the article:

         > As of 2016—the most recent year for which data are available—the average man in state prison had been arrested nine times, was currently incarcerated for his sixth time, and was serving a 16-year sentence.


     > But starting in the late 1960s, a multidecade crime wave swelled in America, and an unprecedented number of adolescents and young adults were criminally active. In response, the anti-crime policies of most local, state, and federal governments became more and more draconian.


     > Rapidly declining numbers of youth are committing crimes, getting arrested, and being incarcerated.
    replies(5): >>44380347 #>>44380472 #>>44380510 #>>44384404 #>>44384556 #
    2. WalterBright ◴[25 Jun 25 18:21 UTC] No.44380347[source]▶
    > Rapidly declining numbers of youth

    May be the result of a rapidly declining birth rate.

    3. bilbo0s ◴[25 Jun 25 18:32 UTC] No.44380472[source]▶
    Rapidly declining numbers of youth are committing crimes, getting arrested, and being incarcerated

    Well also, the number one crime these youths were getting arrested for was drug possession. With drug trafficking being second. 15 years ago the vast majority of people in prison in texas were there for drug possession or trafficking. If all of a sudden everyone's drug of choice is marijuana, and it's being decriminalized everywhere, I have to think that makes it hard to get the numbers you used to get in terms of arrests.

    Not that this is a bad thing. I'm just pointing out that while arrests did go down, I don't necessarily believe that the prevalence of pot smoking decreased.

    One benefit is that this new environment should help them to have better futures than the youths that came before them.

    4. TrainedMonkey ◴[25 Jun 25 18:36 UTC] No.44380510[source]▶
    Like all complex phenomena 1960s crime wave probably has many causes, but lead poisoning stands out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
    replies(2): >>44382479 #>>44382933 #
    5. ivape ◴[25 Jun 25 22:46 UTC] No.44382479[source]▶
    Drugs. Don’t overthink things.
    replies(1): >>44382609 #
    6. const_cast ◴[25 Jun 25 23:03 UTC] No.44382609{3}[source]▶
    To dig deeper, not only are young people doing less drugs (good), but we've also stopped being so unbelievably fucking crazy with our policing of drugs. In many places marijuana is basically decriminalized, although not outright legal. Not too long ago even just carrying around marijuana could land you decades in prison, depending on how black you were.
    replies(1): >>44383475 #
    7. potato3732842 ◴[25 Jun 25 23:56 UTC] No.44382933[source]▶
    >ike all complex phenomena 1960s crime wave probably has many causes, but lead poisoning stands out

    And the ones who didn't get sent to prison, stunt their career by being useless hippies or drive their muscle cars drunk so habitually that laws got passed are the current heads of most public and private institutions.

    So things will likely improve a bit when those people age out as their replacements will likely be picked from an unleaded pool.

    replies(1): >>44385137 #
    8. lazyasciiart ◴[26 Jun 25 01:38 UTC] No.44383475{4}[source]▶
    Still can in many states, although the average internet seems to be unaware of this. I saw someone getting torn apart for defending their husbands felony marijuana possession conviction as “not a bad person” because people think that today you only get that charge if you were driving a truck full of the stuff with a body in the back, but in e.g. Florida it’s still up to 5 years for 20g plain possession.

    https://www.findlaw.com/state/criminal-laws/marijuana-posses...

    9. TiredOfLife ◴[26 Jun 25 05:24 UTC] No.44384404[source]▶
    Crime is still happening. The arrests are just not being made. There is a readon why us stores have more and more stuff behind locks.
    10. matthewdgreen ◴[26 Jun 25 05:55 UTC] No.44384556[source]▶
    The prison industry is very profitable and influential. If prison populations are dropping naturally, you might imagine that politicians might start looking for some new population to incarcerate.
    replies(1): >>44389303 #
    11. DaSHacka ◴[26 Jun 25 07:42 UTC] No.44385137{3}[source]▶
    Bold of you to assume the "microplastic'd pool" will be any better
    12. FredPret ◴[26 Jun 25 17:15 UTC] No.44389303[source]▶
    No it isn’t.

    One of the biggest ones, GEO, only made $30m last year with a margin of 1.1%.

    Another one, CXW, made $84m.

    SSTI is losing money.

    Microsoft makes $284m… per day.