Frankly, Guantanamo Bay will be settled by wary, hardened troops in the field - they won't be taking many more prisoners. And, POWs have rights limited by the fact that they are enemies, not just fellow-citizen felons.

We do incarcerate too many drug users as if they are pushers. But we also incarcerate many who take advantage of our affluence by trying to make others' goods their own, and exert violence over others' lives. The USA 'enjoys', if you will, the highest homicide and assault rates in the world.

Mere statistical comparisons with Red China are incongruent and nearly anomalous. For great instance, how many Chinese are imprisoned for political 'crimes' rather than truly felonious anti-social crimes? How many 'Catholics for being Catholic', among other Christian sects, are in their prisons?

I believe that our USA crime rate reflects problems with our 'melting pot' experiment coupled with increasingly opportunistic politically-driven perceptions of 'victimhood'. For example, among that group who are most incarcerated for crimes of violence, against property and drug-related charges, black males between 18 and 30, they have a 30% unemployment rate - citing 'racism'. However, why is it, then, that their single-mother black sisters find employment?

Jail time has helped reduce crime in the USA, sad to say. Then again, in all these sad circumstances, maybe if we really promoted and fostered strong families to firmly educate our young it would be a mighty step in the right direction.

noel-I guess there are a few of us out here still trying to contribute and dicsuss issues. I think warren makes a good point- we are not locking people up for political reasons. However, we are locking people up mainly for drug and crimes associated with drug sale and use (robbery, etc.). Why this is so disproportinately high in minority communities would involve a lot of analysis about the socio-economic involved in these communities. Do we as a nation put enough resources into these communities? Are the resporces that we do put in making sense? I feel that just throwing money at a problem does not always solve it. At this point though what is the alternative to incarceration? Do we let out certain folks (minor crimes; drug usesr-not sellers?)? If we do, what are consequences to this? I know this may be a very simplistic way of looking at the problem, but where is teh family, where is prayer, where is teh relationship with the Lord in these Communities? How do we promote it. You know, sometimes we think of Evangalization as occuring in far away places- maybe we need to turn back to our inner cities and other troubled areas and bring Christ to the forefront was again?

One thing you are not considering is why in much of the rest of the world that has high population, with the exception of the content of Europe the prison population is lower. The sad reality is that , in most countries in the world, china, Russia, india and the middle east. They don't lock people up, they simply kill them. Sometimes without even so much as a trial.

In the united states we do have legalized capital punishment , but the process to carry it out takes years and it is not legal in many states.

Also, the high prison rates are an artifact of the simple fact that we are a society in decay. Morals are now considered by a large portion of the population to be political and social liabilities atheism and egalitarian utilitarianism are promoted in the public square and our schools as the correct way of viewing the world.

If he past , history of Rome, Greace, Byzantium ect are brought to bear on the sitution id expect that within the next 200 years the united stats will either collapse into multiple states as the U.S.S.R did or it will become an authoritarian dictatorship with fascist elements.

Fishman
No, No, No!

The US, China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have the death penalty. Civilized countries do not.

Been reading these posts for some time but have refrained from commenting. Our prisons are very crowded in many states and in way too many cases are over crowded. But is the alternative to not punish those that break our laws? Monetary fines do not act as a deterrent to crime but the threat or possibility of going to prison should. Problem is that way too many prisons have confused humane treatment with giving prisoners many luxuries and niceties they didn't have when they were walking the streets.

Prisoners should be humanely treated but prisons should be a place that you do not want to go. Then a prison term acts as a deterrent to crime in many cases.

Is there a good answer to this issue? Not one that will make every one happy.

As for comparing the US capital punishment laws with Saudi Arabia.....I have seen the "chopping block" in Riyadh in action. Please don't compare us in the US to that. In Saudi there is no last minute reprieve.