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.

📉 Falling 0.3x Politics & Society
2,849
Comments
18
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#1180
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2009
17
2010
68
2011
58
2012
63
2013
213
2014
116
2015
188
2016
139
2017
171
2018
158
2019
251
2020
225
2021
322
2022
296
2023
249
2024
155
2025
154
2026
6

Keywords

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.