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I assume the decrease in crime has a lot of factors. But, can't the decline of violent crime be partly explained by more people being kept in prison?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/US_incarc...

If criminals are kept in jail longer, they can commit fewer crimes against the public.

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rajpaul -- the point of the original article is that the crime rate has not really declined; instead, crime has been _shifted_ to the prison system, where incarcerated people live permanently or semi-permanently in horrible conditions.

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