There is a rather shocking statistic being reported out of the International Centre for Prison Studies this week: Mississippi locks up more people per capita than China and Russia combined. It turns out the “Hospitality State” may continue to have one of the lowest rankings in public education and employment but they will put you in jail faster than Vladimir Putin can say do svidaniya.
Here are the stats: Mississippi reports 686 inmates per 10,000 population in 2013. In comparison, China incarcerates 121 while Russia incarcerates 475 per 10,000.
The state has moved recently to give more power to judges to hand down alternative sentences. There are good reasons for sentencing guidelines, but they work best as guidelines. When you impose mandatory minimums, it tends to drive up incarceration and denies judges the ability to tailor sentencing to fit actual cases. I once testified with the judge who said that he was surprised by the lack of discretion in the federal system. After all, he said, he was selected because he had done well in law school, done well in practice, accumulated decades of experience . . . only to be told that he could not use any of that accumulated experience in sentencing offenders.
Critics have charged that the new law actually will magnify the problem because, while allowing more discretion, it also classified those convicted of drug sales, burglary of an occupied dwelling and arson as “violent” offenders. The article below discusses a case where a woman was just a month from release as a drug dealer when her parole was cancelled under the new law. The law also imposes habitual offender sentencing which will prolong incarceration. Yet, beyond these two changes, the added discretion should help with first offenders and other categories of crime.
With 19,811 people behind bars, Mississippi is still not the top incarcerating state. That distinction rests with Louisiana at 39,147 and Oklahoma at 26,927. Presumably, these states also top Russian and China combined in per capita incarceration rates.
Source: Clarion Ledger
It is my belief that nothing should be mandatory. Every case is different, Punishment should fit the crime. Our Jury’s need education which can be found at: Fully Informed Jury Association
The ridiculous sentences that are given out in Court should be investigated. Who is going to live to be over a 100 years old? If they do, what is the result from the incarceration for that length of time?
Few groups are as widely despised as sex offenders. Activities prosecuted as sex offenses vary by state, but can include public urination, consensual sex between teenagers, streaking, prostitution, downloading child pornography and rape. In some states, law-enforcement officials distribute flyers to notify neighbors of registrants’ convictions. Some registrants are prohibited from using the Internet. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that indefinite detention at psychiatric hospitals — or “civil commitment” — of sex offenders is constitutional.
Where is the justice, truth, and fairness in this definition and ignorance?
They’re comparing “incarceration” rates? I’m going to throw the red flag on this to review how information from Russia and China is gathered and reported. Perhaps a bit cynical but I’m going to guess incarceration in those two countries would be a very welcomed sentence.
@Learned
ROTFLMAO!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
This article is pure innumeracy. What does it mean to combine two per-capita rates? The only meaningful statement is that Mississippi’s rate is higher than Russia’s. China is irrelevant because it is lower than both.
It would be meaningful to say that a US state incarcerates more _people_ than Russia and China combined, but it wouldn’t be true. But to sum rates between countries is a nonsense.
its 66 per 10,000. common core math…
That’s interesting.
We have the opposite problem here in CA. Here, crime is encouraged because it’s really hard to get any jail time. And if you do, you’ll be out after serving a fraction of your sentence for good behavior.
I’ve never agreed with early parole. What is “good behavior” in prison? If you’re a serial rapist, and you manage to not rape any women in a men’s prison, well, great, but how does that get you out early? Sentences should be reasonable and fair, and “good behavior” should earn you privileges in prison, like TV time. I hate hearing about savage killers having to be sentenced to multiple life sentences just to ensure they don’t get out in 10 years.
Karen – math is hard. They just decided that the Polish immigrant who had been declared definitively as Jack the Ripper because of DNA is NOT Jack the Ripper because whoever did the DNA made a mistake with the math.
Hmmm. It looks like somebody at the source (Clarion) is math deficient. The numbers are off by a factor of 10. It should probably be 666 per 100,000. I wonder if the numbers from Russia and China which they are comparing Mississippi to are correct???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The numbers do not add up on this. Mississippi has about 3 million people. If about 20,000 are in jail, that does not equate to 666 of 10,000 in jail. Because 666 is almost 10% and 10% of 3 million is 300,000.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Isn’t Dr. Charlton Stanley part of this system? We should hear his wisdom on this.
Did not the article say the reason was the mandatory sentences are so long and there is little judicial discretion? Also, I am guessing the public defender system is not adequate in Mississippi and many of the incarcerated lack legal representation. Mississippi is a bad state to be poor in but particularly so if one is poor and black.
SWM – if they have poor representation that is because the state bar of Mississippi allows poor lawyers to join. One of the nice things about mandatory sentencing is that it get people off the streets for awhile. However, when jails are overcrowded, like LA, they don’t really spend any time there. So, they usually get 1/3 of their sentence hacked off as the walk in the door and then with good behavior what is left can be halved. So they are doing 1/3 of the actually mandatory sentence they received. To get around this turn-style justice, some judge (not JT’s speaker) have started making sentences consecutive, not concurrent. So you have to complete the first one, before the 2nd kicks in, etc.
Acting out violently and self-medicating are directly proportional to the levels of oppression one experiences. Stop racism and crimes will decline. Learning disorders contribute to criminals getting caught and imprisoned. Address learning disorders and convictions will decline – unless, of course, more criminals are appropriately convicted for fraud, insider trading, political corruption, and war crimes – the real crimes that reduce the quality of life for everyone.
doglover – there are no studies or data behind your comments on racism and learning disorders. I will give you one you can work on for awhile. If the temperature reaches a certain level assaults rise. Above a certain temperature they drop and below a certain temperature they drop.
“US Vice President Dick Cheney was indicted today [2006] for a prison profiteering scheme and charged with abuse of prisoners. Cheney invested millions in the Vanguard Group, an investment management company with interests in the prison companies in charge of detention centers.” (Cheney Indicted).
“A Mississippi prison for severely mentally ill inmates is infested with rats that prisoners sell to one another as pets, two civil liberties groups claimed in a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Inmates at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility near Meridian live under “barbaric” conditions, in filthy quarters without working lights or toilets, forcing them to defecate on Styrofoam trays or into trash bags, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center claimed in the lawsuit.
Beatings, rape, robbery and riots are commonplace, and inmates are denied access to medication and psychiatric care, the 83-page complaint stated.
The privately run prison “is an extremely dangerous facility operating in a perpetual state of crisis” and inmates’ human rights are violated daily, according to the groups. Some prisoners set fires in a desperate attempt to get medical attention in emergencies, the lawsuit said.” (HP).
I’m with Nick on this. End the war against all drugs, then compare the statistics.
Furthermore, we should not assume that less incarcerations is a bad thing. What if the incarceration rate was zero? Would that mean that government was doing a good job, or that people were more free and happy?
The red states are going to be jealous.
The Dick “Chain Man” Cheney prison corps are licking their lips.
“Thy bones are hollow; impiety has made a feast of thee.” – Shakespeare (Measure for Measure)
O braggart vile and damned furious wight! – Shakespeare (Henry V)
Ending the insane War on Drugs solves these problems. But, there are too many govt. union jobs. Govt. union employees and Dem politicians are complicit in this travesty.
Paul: 1861.
One Mississippi. When you have two pp’s before the eye then you are in the eye of the beholder. So sayeth James Earl Ray. And that was while he was in prison in Missoura not the Miss state.
Follow the money train:
Who sponsors those tougher laws?
What type of prison system do they use? public? Private?
Would looking into it show a link between those able to push the laws and those benefiting from increased incarceration rates, those who invest in or are being invested in by the private prison industry?
I am not against mandatory sentencing. If you do not want to do mandatory sentencing then quit. As Barretta said, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. I haven’t heard the last time Mississippi invaded another state
Why is it that we keep hearing story after story about how we (in the U.S.) are doing the wrong thing, are shown many examples of how to do it better, but refuse to change? IMHO, a big part of the problem is the incompetent boobs we keep putting into office. Stop the nonsense, vote for real change. In two weeks we can make a difference. Even Mississippi can make a difference if they choose.
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