US Incarceration Rate

Comments repeatedly highlight the United States' highest incarceration rate in the world compared to other countries, often citing Wikipedia statistics and debating its implications for justice, freedom, and crime control.

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washingtonpost.com US en.m UK PRC github.com USA nationmaster.com EU U.S incarceration prison crime rate violent crime china highest violent countries justice

Sample Comments

fulafel May 19, 2018 View on HN

US is pretty bad re imprisonment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarce...

bee_rider May 2, 2023 View on HN

Doesn’t the US have a much higher incarceration rate than most… developed countries, at least?

joehillen Feb 9, 2014 View on HN

Don't forget Imprisonment. There are more people in prison in the US than anywhere else.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_St...

codex Jun 14, 2013 View on HN

Have you seen the US incarceration rate? Seems consistent with that.

soperj Dec 21, 2021 View on HN

You're comparing it to the USA, which has by far the highest rate of incarceration in the world. 5 times more than the average country.

watwut Aug 9, 2022 View on HN

Are you sure that actual outcome of average case? Or rather just a saying? US imprisons most people I the world.

minikites Jul 22, 2021 View on HN

People harp on China or North Korea being police states but the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation by a significant margin. The US justice system is rife with discrimination and the prison conditions are dire (as you point out). People should absolutely not be extradited to the USA until this changes.

rpgwaiter Sep 12, 2023 View on HN

Please look at the proportion of Americans in prison compared to the rest of the world, then realize that the rest of the world manages to maintain law and order without holding 25% of the entire world's prison population

eth0up Dec 30, 2016 View on HN

This is dandy and such, but it has a long, long way to go yet, still boasting the highest incarceration rates in the world:1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_ra...2. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/07/yes-u-s-locks-people-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-oth

Jemmeh Jun 6, 2017 View on HN

USA has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, you can find many similar stories on Google.