U.S. Tops in the World in Incarceration Rate: Conservatives Hoping to Catch Up

The United States has more people in prison, per capita, than any other country in the world. More than China, more than Iran, more than oppressive dictatorships the world over. And this is the model that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives want to follow by implementing 'tougher' drug laws. ("Tough-on-crime" is Conservative code for criminalizing petty offences while corporatizing the country. Similarly, "tax relief" really means tax cuts for those with the most. The Clean Air Act actually means more pollution, etc.)

A great many of the prisoners in U.S. jails are there for minor drug-related offenses. Once out, they have a criminal record and find it very difficult to find a decent job, so it is easy to slide back into crime. And, of course, serving time does nothing to help with poverty, addiction, and psychological problems. To combat this, the Americans come up with longer sentences and more extreme punishment. Did you know that the United States also has more children in jail than anyone else? That 'liberal' California's three-strikes law jails people for life for any three convictions, no matter how minor? That many prisons have been privatized, creating a market incentive to put more people in jail for longer periods? Or that Lindsey Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail for her second conviction?

The United States is showing us how not to deal with crime. As Winston Churchill once said, "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else first." It can take a long time to try all the alternatives, and can ruin many, many lives along the way, especially if you are not open to learning from other countries.

The reason that the Canadian "Conservatives" (I haven't figured out what they're conserving, other than corporate wealth and privilege, hence the quotes) seek to remake Canada in the American Way has nothing to do with common sense, science, or what works. If we wanted to reduce our crime rates, it seems sensible to look at what Norway and Denmark are doing. Instead, the Conservatives look to the United States. If we wanted to make Canada more independent and rebuild our manufacturing, we would gather ideas from Germany, France, and other progressive countries. Instead, the Conservatives seek to bind us to American policy with the Security and Prosperity Partnership. And if the Conservatives believed in honest and open government, they wouldn't use Orwellian names for policies like the SPP, and they wouldn't muzzle the scientists in Environment Canada.

The Conservatives are not honourable people, and they will use whatever tactics achieve their ends. This is what we should learn from the American example. I don't recall any attempt to discover who was behind installing 'agents provocateurs' at the SPP protest in Quebec. Those who were should have been jailed, but...nothing from Mr. Tough-on-Crime. The Conservatives, Canadian or American, are just the latest in a long string of arrogant fools who believe that might makes right, that some were born to rule and some to serve, that those on top can make use of those below. Their time is through, but they will fight to the end to maintain the status quo, and therefore their own status.

Sources (discovered thanks to Reddit):
http://www.cato.org/images/homepage/incarceration-...
http://www.sentencingproject.org/Admin/Documents/p...