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Last updated on June 24th, 2017 at 10:13 am
AFP reports:
The US has the world’s largest penal population with some 10 percent of the adult population behind bars.
If true, this means the US prison population would be larger than the population of all but two states. The actual figure is closer to one per cent.
UPDATE. A lefty fell for it.
In Australia we call those folk breeding stock.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 04 21 at 11:59 PM • permalink
By my observations at least half of the population should be locked up at any one time. One per cent is a good start.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 04 22 at 12:07 AM • permalink
In the meantime, Victoria’s Rob Hulls has gone back on an election promise to get rid of suspended sentences, because the prison system wouldn’t be able to cope. Can we refer him to Julian Burnside as an example of a politician who should be prosecuted for lying, or misleading?
Speaking of criminals, ABC Radio National has been whining about the big bad US Army allowing people with criminal records to enlist. On the other hand, ABC progressives will always whine about criminals not being allowed to vote. I’m confused.
And O/T, I’m waiting for the leftist howls of outrage at the news that Australia now controls large new areas of its continental shelf, which can be prospected for oil, the sweet black tears of Gaia.
Decimal points are Bush’s fault.
WHAT? ABC Radio National never watched The Dirty Dozen?
Posted by SwampWoman on 2008 04 22 at 12:27 AM • permalink
Breaking News: Soap-on-a-Rope sales soar.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 04 22 at 12:38 AM • permalink
Did they borrow Lancet’s calculator again?
Yes, but it gave them an even more outrageous figure, so they fudged it a bit to make it more believable.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 22 at 01:00 AM • permalink
Well, I am sure that AFP would be mystified that Texans aren’t all incarcerated.
Posted by SwampWoman on 2008 04 22 at 01:08 AM • permalink
The fellow is wrong again, as in his update he implies that “Bush” had something to do with increasing prison populations – this is in fact almost entirely a state and local matter. The vast majority of prisoners in the US are held by states and localities, not by the Federal government. Rates of incarceration also vary widely among the states, driven mostly by local conditions and politics. The people demand that criminals be jailed, and in the US, unlike certain European states, there is still enough democracy that the popular will sometimes prevails.
And the rate of increase under “Bush” is no different than under “Clinton”, not that either of them had much to do with it.
And the AFP, in the report he links –
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1643973.htm
is grossly wrong in saying that 2/3 of prisoners in the US are held in federal prisons. Its less than 10%.
Lefty can’t spell either. Note the poll in the top right hand corner. The second answer includes the word “traiter”.
Definitions include:
to treat in a particular way
Example: Never handle animals roughly.Sounds appropriate enough.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 02:19 AM • permalink
Maybe they meant “in bars” and not “behind bars”?
Posted by Honkie Hammer on 2008 04 22 at 02:52 AM • permalink
Ten percent is obviously one of those figures the left just makes up because it sounds good. A lot of that seems to go on on that side of politics.
#4 Infidel, One percent is about the correct figure (as long as you are locking up the right one percent). A little while ago someone posted this link to Romeo Mike’s blog. It summarises studies on teenage male crime and it seems that about seven percent are chronic offenders and about ten percent of these were “super predators” and were responsible for most of the crime (and continue to be criminals later in life). This comes to about one percent of the total population.
The obvious conclusion is that if we identify and lock up the one percent who are super predators for several decades at a time then we could drastically reduce crime overall.
(And, no, I don’t particularly care about their civil rights.)
His irrational, emotional side took over, which I’m sure is the normal occurrence and he rushed to tell all his loyal followers of another astounding breakthrough in the fight against the evil US of A.
Maybe even now…he’s still gloating in the aftermath as the supporting emails flood in, congratulating him on his investigative genius.
I want to be there amongst them all when the truth becomes evident.
Hear that silence; nearly as good as poking my head out of the living room window and listening to NZ after a Wallaby win.
Do you believe global warming is real:
55% It’s real, caused by humans
34% It’s real, but natural
11% It’s not realMaybe some sensible TimBlair readers would like vote and have their views recorded too… 😉
Vote’s a crock. You can vote multiple times. So the umpty-gazillion ‘it is all our fault’ retards are probably 24 bong-addled neocommie latte-sippers ‘speaking truth to power’ in between bouts with their pet goats.
Either that or it is Julia Gillard doing the only thing she can outside of Krudd’s micro-management.
MarkL
canberra
- Then:
“Can you believe that? One in ten US adults is in jail! That’s just absurd. No, it’s worse that absurd – it’s criminal! How do you boast of having a functioning Democracy when one in ten adults is in jail?”Now:
” … one percent … That is still an absolute disgrace.”From criminal to an absolute disgrace in nine percentage points. How do lefties come up with these calibrations? What would one in nine be? One in seven? One in five? OWould one in a million be any better? No, because it’s America. This from a site calling for ‘war criminals to be brought to account’ and presumably jailed. God forbid.
The left-wing mind must be difficult to switch off at night.
- #40
It’s real, caused by humans
55% 7753 votes
It’s real, but natural
34% 4798 votes
It’s not real
11% 1610 votes
Left have been clicking.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 07:17 AM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 07:18 AM • permalink
- #40
Me on another computer. Get to vote again.
Do you believe global warming is real?
Thanks for voting 14819 votes
since Apr 21 2008
It’s real, caused by humans
55% 8120 votes
It’s real, but natural
34% 5001 votes
It’s not real
11% 1698 votes
Left have been clicking again.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 08:08 AM • permalink
You get the feeling he’ll be dining off the fact Tim linked to him for months on end.
“Tim Blair made me look like complete twat and I’m proud of it”
Posted by the nailgun on 2008 04 22 at 08:42 AM • permalink
Did anyone make a joke yet about it being a mistake, it should actually had said the US has the population with the world’s largest penises?Okay, I’ve edit it myself. There’s probably a reason no one bothered. Damn, I need a writer.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 04 22 at 08:43 AM • permalink
They wouldn’t have to do surveys if they just took a scientific approach, and that does not mean surveying scientists – particularly geneticists and palaeo-anthropologists.
Are they really trying to say AGW is real if most people say it is?
They are the new flat-earthers.
BTW David Suzuki being a geneticist, and Dim Flannery studying human origins: It is like Marvel Comics where characters (such as the Hulk) study a science hoping to find a cure for themselves. I wish them luck – their mutant selves are a royal pain.
Posted by Toiling Mass on 2008 04 22 at 08:45 AM • permalink
BTW I’m hoping the dysentry problem has been sorted in the mess by the weekend, eh wot?
Well, if there are this many bartenders, it must mean that there’s a great demand for liquor in the U.S. So, we’ve obviously got a tremendous drinking problem in our country. What we probably need to do…Hold on a sec, there’s the telephone.
(Hello? Yo, Michael Lonie! What’s going on, Professor? How’s that alternative proof of Fermat’s last theorem coming along? Huh? The author meant people behind prison bars? Not bartenders? Oh, man! Talk about egg on my face. How do I finesse this one? Yeah…uh, huh…Great! Thanks, Mike!)
Drinks are on Wronwright!
- #53
Are they really trying to say <insert left agenda item> is real if most people say it is?Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 08:58 AM • permalink
Incidentally, when I become President, I will be nominating sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona to head up the Department of Justice.
ALP denied access to McEwen votes
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 09:05 AM • permalink
#32 – excellent link, Burbank.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 09:11 AM • permalink
It’s one of Tim Flannery’s predictions!!!!!!
We’all goooonnnaaaaa die!!!!!
#53; Marvel comics are great; I’ve got some early Incredible Hulks’, Spiderman, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and X-Men from the 60’s; I think Jean Grey’s powers would deal with the greens best, but then, the Invisible Girl’s power to make other people invisible may be just the thing to disorientate the tree-huggers. I’ve gone off Woverine ever since that twot jackman played him.
- Lefty says:
“I challenge his minions to look through my blog and find any other such glaring factual (factual!) errors. I’ll wager they are few and far between.”Challenge accepted!One word search later …“So I guess we won’t see George Dubya handing out plastic turkeys in that cafeteria anytime soon!”
Why are lefties so sooooooo stupid?
Posted by Vincent Gerome on 2008 04 22 at 09:56 AM • permalink
Yahoo has a news poll:
Do you believe global warming is real?
They left off the most likely answer:
4. It’s a politically-driven hoax.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 22 at 10:23 AM • permalink
Challenge accepted!
One word search later …
::SLAP::
Left himself wide open for that one, he did. What a dope.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 22 at 10:26 AM • permalink
A little over half of this prison population is in jail for drug crimes, including possession of marijuana. In the 1990s, marijuana use/possession was the single most pursued offense by American law enforcement agents. Some states still have mandatory minimum sentences for first time possession of marijuana. You can say what you want about pot heads, but I question whether this is an efficient use of law enforcement and court system resources.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2008 04 22 at 10:34 AM • permalink
If one cannot catch order of magnitude errors without trying too hard, maybe one needs to get out a little more. There’s an old aphorism about things too good to be true. It has a corollary about things too bad to be true as well.
Posted by charles austin on 2008 04 22 at 10:35 AM • permalink
Links to story. Rants about story. Discovers story is not true.
Decides his rant is too important not to be taken down. Pleads “fake but accurate.”
Am I the only one noticing a pattern to this fellow?
Too bad it’s a “no comment zone” blog, eh?
Posted by andycanuck on 2008 04 22 at 11:12 AM • permalink
How about Arpaio in John Bolton’s cabinet?
Obviously, there aren’t enough criminals in prison, or the crime rate would be lower.
Posted by rightwingprof on 2008 04 22 at 11:20 AM • permalink
“…He called you “anal retentive pond scum”
I’ve wondered what the opposite of “anal retentive” was; it must be “anal releasive”, and the proof is that measly blog itself.
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2008 04 22 at 11:42 AM • permalink
Am I the only one noticing a pattern to this fellow?
It seems to be a common affliction among our leftist friends.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 22 at 11:52 AM • permalink
But there’s Timmeh waiting to pounce on my mistake.
I have a hard time picturing Tim sitting there glued to his computer monitor – sleepless, for days on end, like some Hong Kong foreign exchange trader – waiting to capitalize on Lefty’s mistakes. In the first place, Tim wouldn’t have to wait long; seems like one can just drop in over there anytime and catch the guy screwing up. And in the second place…well, the fellow’s capacity to instruct and elevate is a tad limited, and I doubt that many people read him, except for a few close family members and a sprinkling of non-discriminating hysterics, so there’s not a lot of inherent interest in his maunderings, save for a little comic relief.
BTW, do pond scum have anuses? I merely ask…
- #74,
A great many people seem to have broken “common sense” detectors. Something stating that 10% of Americans are in jail should have sent that thing pinging like a Cate Blanchett pinball machine in an amorous Rudd’s game room.Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2008 04 22 at 12:36 PM • permalink
I’ve wondered what the opposite of “anal retentive” was…”
Anal explosive.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2008 04 22 at 01:47 PM • permalink
Am I the only one noticing a pattern to this fellow?
Let me point out that his “Links” category includes such noteworthy blogs like “Juan Cole”, “Antony Loewenstein”, “John Quiggin”, and [drum roll] …. “Jeremy Sears”.
Need I say more?
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 22 at 02:58 PM • permalink
Yes. I confess. I am a prisoner.
Every day I am dragged out of bed at a ridiculous hour, forced to trudge to a depressing building where I am abused at random by people over whom I have no power, and poorly fed under apalling conditions.
Oh, wait, that’s work.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 22 at 03:23 PM • permalink
#42 The left-wing mind must be difficult to switch off at night.
Their little minds are always off.
Posted by Deborah Leigh on 2008 04 22 at 04:45 PM • permalink
#39, this seems to be increasingly happening.
Do you suppose the victim of an attack, if s/he attacked the attacker, would receive similarly lenient sentences?
Posted by carpefraise on 2008 04 22 at 04:47 PM • permalink
Incidentally, the title of this post should probably be “30 MILLION PRISONERS.” The US population is over 303 million as of this afternoon.
Also, if we did have that many people incarcerated, then 230 murders a year in the most vicious 10% of our population would make jails a good bit safer than being on the streets. Certainly safer than the streets of Chicago, were 29 people were killed over the weekend.
Posted by charles austin on 2008 04 22 at 04:48 PM • permalink
#68: Lefty throws down gauntlet. Vincent picks up same and smacks him silly with it. Well done.
Filled with a brick, like in that Bugs Bunny cartoon. 🙂
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2008 04 22 at 05:08 PM • permalink
Anyone check the guy’s sitemeter? He barely breaks 200 page views per day, all month. Then, with one link from Tim, it jumps to 1500.
That’s at least a gain of, uh, um, over 10%.
Posted by lumberjack on 2008 04 22 at 05:19 PM • permalink
#65 – kae, I didn’t know that any of the users of this lightning detection system made this kind of thing public until now. I installed this stuff for a public authority some years ago – fascinating bit of kit.
One thing we were told about the lightning detection system is that it is accurate to something like 5m in areas where they have a reasonably density of detectors (I may be an order of magnitude out here). The bit that got me is that insurance companies supposedly use it when examining claims for storm damage – particularly blown TV’s and the like. Or crop fires that farmers report. If they see a bolt struck your house, they’ll pay for the TV on the spot. If not, you might have all previous claims examined for fraud.
It’s great for watching storm cells rolling in across Sydney – what really got me is that almost every one of them goes straight over the top of Sydney airport. If they had a system like this 80 years ago, they never would have put the airport where it is.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 05:31 PM • permalink
PS – if you are feeling geeky this morning and want to know about lightning detection, here’s a link to the mob that sell the detection systems.
Oh, and I was 2 orders of magnitude out when I said 5m. Better get meself a job at Lancet.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 05:37 PM • permalink
#98 – mojo, that’s what the lightning detection systems actually use. They have a network of radio recievers, and they simply triangulate the strikes.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 05:52 PM • permalink
If we had a proper network of bullshit detectors and a system that plotted bullshit pronouncements on a web map, 2020 would have lit up like a bright red blob. Think infrared photo of a volcano.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 22 at 06:02 PM • permalink
I’m not reading or hearing the same sort of language applied to the Canberra government’s security measures today as we experienced around APEC. Ring of Steel, Virtual Lockdown, Methods Developed In Response to Refugees/Terrorists, Crushing of Dissent? Will the Chasers be there, and if so whose credibility will they be undermining? Unlikely that our media will throw anything so tacky at the loopy left ACT mates. Different if Howard was in charge.
OT again: Tony Snow was hospitalized this morning.
Tell me if I am being over-senstitive, but I have detected a certain degree of scepticism, or at least – a tendency to quibble – among some commentators here about the practical value of the 2020 summit.
Well, cop this quibblers! One of the major aims of the Summit is already close to fruition!
All thanks to Kevin Rudd for returning sight to the blind.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2008 04 22 at 07:11 PM • permalink
- Since no one else will:
23 Sqn RAAFAlso an Association.CheersPosted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2008 04 22 at 07:32 PM • permalink
All thanks to Kevin for returning sight to the blind
- #106 Margos – don’t laugh, a newsbreak on our local commercial TV station last night reported pretty much that ‘the bionic eye proposed at the 2020 summit was soon to be available’. Whether intentional or not the report made a very strong link between Kev’s wankfest and the fact that the Australian bionic eye project is close to fruition.
Obviously it was hardly a new idea if the boffins have been working on this for many years anyway such that they are shortly to start permanent implants in people but to link this to dear leader is taking Kevinism to a whole new level.
The only thing you could hope to come out of 2020 is the 500 or so people duped will bear a grudge. They came to Canberra at their own expense because they honestly believed Rudd was interested. They left just as many predicted – used and discarded, their ideas in the bin and their signatures on something they didn’t agree to or even discuss.
This anger will swell when they realise that key figures in this deception, people such as Cate Blanchett and the Rev Tim Costello, were paid to be there.
And what are the odds of Tim Costello standing as a celebrity Labor candidate in 2010? Pretty good I thought after his performance on Sunday. The only thing that would be an impediment is that Costello does live high on the hog off World Vision. It’s why it isn’t on my charity list.
- #108
From previous, cold war pre-TFR SAC sustained Mach 2 (30 min plus) Hustler in one of its (many unbroken) records: @700mph @ max. 500 feet.IIRC the limitations of the Mach 2++ razor-thin wings, as in the Starfighter, were sacrificed in successors (as weapons platforms); replacement low-level ‘Aardvark’s’ extended nose for TFR capability as it was deemed too expensive to adapt the Hustler.User now has a full doco series on all of its trophy wins; many of the record-breaking crew(s) went on to fly the Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird.
Actually, the best lightning detector is an umbrella.
I didn’t say it was an early detector…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 22 at 08:18 PM • permalink
- #114
Cate Blanchett’s ass will get a seat too.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 22 at 08:24 PM • permalink
Well, sure, but we imprison children too, so why have they been left out?
You know, I’ll bet a higher percentage of fit people are found in prisons than in the general population. So, what inferences can wee draw from that?
Posted by charles austin on 2008 04 22 at 08:56 PM • permalink
McNamara’s Eleven Lessons:
1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There’s something beyond one’s self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can’t change human nature.
And, oddly enough, the more people locked up the less crime there is with e.g. the New York Times not understanding how crime can be dropping as the prison population rises. It’s a mystery. (Like how decimal points work.)