After the United States, China ranks second in the number of prisoners, with four times as many people as the US. In America, there are 751 prisoners per 100,000 people. For comparison, in Russia (whose prison population is also recognized as one of the highest), there are 627 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. In the UK, this figure is 151, in Germany - 88, in Japan - 63.
According to researchers, this situation has arisen because in the US a person can be imprisoned for crimes that in other countries are almost never punished with imprisonment. For example, an American can be jailed for check forgery or drug use. Moreover, prison terms in the US are usually longer than in other countries. In particular, robbers in the US serve an average of 16 months, while in the UK they are jailed on average for 7 months, and in Canada - for five.
However, experts believe that the high crime rate also influences the situation. In addition, reports Lenta.ru, the intensification of the war on drugs is bearing fruit. If in 1980 there were 40,000 people in US prisons for drug-related crimes, now there are almost half a million.