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Comment by hugh4 | Hacker News Reader

Given the number of criminals I see on the streets, I certainly wouldn't call the US's current situation "mass incarceration".

I would say the US has a shockingly massive crime problem.

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Given that the US incarcerates more than any other nation (however you measure that), and assuming you're correct[1] would you then say that more prison is needed? Or would you say that prison clearly isn't working, and maybe we should try something that is cheaper, provides better justice to the victims of crime, reduces recidivism, and doesn't destroy the lives of criminals or their relatives?

[1] that you see many criminals, and that the US has a shockingly massive crime problem

I certainly think that corporal punishment is an idea worth revisiting for minor crimes, and that perhaps we could expand the use of the death penalty for repeat offenders, but these ideas have fallen out of fashion too.

...they fell out of fashion because they don't work, let alone that they're horrific human rights abuses.

Where do you live? What kind of criminals committing what kind of crimes are you seeing on the streets? Or are you speaking of what you see in the media?

Maybe it would be great to know, why the US (the richest country of the earth) has such a massive crime problem.

We account for ~4% of the world's population and ~25% of the world's prisoners.

How are you identifying all these criminals in the streets?

drug, gun.

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