Prison Population

Dear Victorious,

I've read that the U.S. has more people imprisoned than any other country. How is this possible? I mean why would that be?

Margaret C. - Petaluma, CA

Dear Margaret,

From what I've read, the U.S. has about the same per capita crime rates as other industrialized (western) nations. Statistically, the U.S. incarcerates more of its criminals though, and for longer periods of time. Of course, studies have also be done on recidivism rates - to show that the U.S. has many repeat offenders who get incarcerated more than once in their life time.

There are plenty of experts who can shed light on this subject. But as a Christian, I think its more a reflection on who Americans are rather than how our government (and its penal system) works. Americans are selfish. We have entitlement issues. We're very myopic in our view of the world. We seldom experience real consequences from our poor choices as a nation. We're more blessed than any other nation on earth, and we take that blessing for granted.

The U.S. could incarcerate far fewer of us if more of us principled men and women of integrity. But as a people, we've put integrity pretty low on the list. And when we do that, crimes start to look acceptable. Moral failures start to look normal. And the stigma that comes with criminal convictions and incarceration fades into the background.