QI is QS

I watch QI on TV and find it Quite Interesting.
However, sometimes it's Quite Shocking!

Having read The Spirit Level on Imprisonment and Punishment I shouldn't have been so surprised...

So, anyway, here's a couple of QI facts to ease you in...

1% of American Adults are in Jail
5% of the World is American
25% of the World's Prisoners are American

"No society in history has imprisoned more of its citizens"
(Stephen Fry from Qi)


Why?

• Could it be because prisons have turned into busineses using prisoners as virtual slaves to compete with cheap overseas labour?

• Could it be because of prejudice, discrimination, racism & deprivation?

In the US
more 17 year old black males
are in prison than in college

Why else would the 3 Strike Rule be abused so much?
Why else is Leandro Andrade serving two x 25 years for shoplifting 9 videos?
Why else is Keven Weber serving 26 years for stealing 4 chocolate chip cookies?

The small print of the above picture reads:

More Californians are serving
life sentences
under the 3 strike law
for drug posession
than for
second-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and rape
- combined.