1 In 25 Americans Was Arrested In 2011.

One In 25 Americans Was Arrested In 2011.

But here's a related statistic that's pretty mind blowing in and of itself: According to the FBI, in 2011 there were 3991.1 arrests for every 100,000 people living in America. That means over the course of a single year, one in 25 Americans was arrested.

The FBI also reports that the arrest rate for violent crime was just 172 per 100,000, and for property crimes, it was 531. That means that in 2011, one in 33 Americans were arrested for crimes that didn't involve violence against another person, or theft of or damage to property.

1 in 25.

Errr, can you say police state?

Whats more disturbing, is that the majority of arrests were for non-violent offenses. Does that mean people shouldnt be arrested for other so called crimes, not really. But could these crimes be handled in some other way? How about being "detained" (another scary word these days) vs an official arrest. What about a ticket or fine?

Simply stated, creating an arrest record for someone has the potential to ruin their careers or professional lives. A very common background question is "have you ever been arrested?"

For many, if not most employers, this will will prevent you from being hired.

Combine this with overcriminalization and we've got a very serious problem on our hands.

And cops arent helping. Youve seen the videos. People are being assaulted and their lives ruined over nothing:


People, I dont know what to tell you.

If you see a cop, RUN in the other direction.

Wait, better just walk.

Court: Just Running from the Police is a Crime.

I treat every police officer I see very wearily. I don't trust a single one of them. They care more about achieving their quotas than doing the right thing. I've been pulled over and ticketed for some absurd things. I was once ticketed tailgating, I explained to the police officer that the person I was following was my friend and I didn't want to lose him in traffic. Another time I was pulled over for running a stop sign (it was 3 am and I was extremely tired, not to mention there was no one at the intersection) the cop came up with some BS reason that I tried to run from him as the excuse for writing me up on the stop sign violation.

I also have friends who dress like hippies and they have been profiled during routine traffic stops (or for silly things like the cop making up a reason to pull my friends over) so the police can try to bust them for drugs.

When you call something police are responsible for a War, this is what you get.

And wait for the defenders of the police state in 3... 2... 1...

Originally posted by benrl
When you call something police are responsible for a War, this is what you get.

And wait for the defenders of the police state in 3... 2... 1...

With the highest prison population in the world, land of the free we are no longer. That is just a lie people tell themselves to repress the cold truth that America is turning into a totalitarian state.

Haha.. I was one of them.. Public Intoxication

reply to post by gladtobehere


The figures have not considered repeat offenders, as acknowledged at the end of the article. And as noted in the article it does impact the numbers a bit. But hey 1 in 25 sounds better

In any case, I wont argue that we are not seeing an increase in the number of arrests and I presume that new open ended and generally vague laws leave the US open to even more widespread incrimination.

Grant it, some drug laws are now under review, but i suspect a grander motive lays beneath.

I do find it worrying that the prison population is the US is so high in contrast to the rest of the world.

Has the balance of law and freedom left its equilibrium? I dont know the answer.

Originally posted by Krazysh0t

Originally posted by benrl
When you call something police are responsible for a War, this is what you get.

And wait for the defenders of the police state in 3... 2... 1...

With the highest prison population in the world, land of the free we are no longer. That is just a lie people tell themselves to repress the cold truth that America is turning into a totalitarian state.

Cognitive dissonance at its finest, American Exceptionalism, having the moral right, long gone.

The truth is too hard for many to face.

reply to post by Krazysh0t


Agreed. One could be traveling in the middle of the night, with no traffic in sight, and get pulled over failure to use a turn signal or some other BS. Granted, they might be looking for DUI, but afterwards a ticket is simply more revenue. Yes, officer, next time I'll use my turn signal so the deer know which direction I'm turning. :/

reply to post by gladtobehere


Back to the OP, this doesn't surprise me in the least. When petty, oftentimes victimless crimes are cause for arrests, the matter tis simply this: milking people for whatever money the gov't can, and keeping them into the judicial system for further milking, whether by fines, community service, programs, etc. There's a local municipality here that has people doing community service for simply traffic violations (speeding, etc), which are overlooked by probation officers (said officers who work for the court but are actually private corporations that are contracted to work for the court). This blows my mind.

Police State indeed. Keeping people shackled to the system in some way or another.

As an aside, the issue of license plate scanners has come up a lot lately, and another local municipality is close to getting it's first readers. And article in the paper ran where the Sheriff blatantly said, "this has the potential for a large of citations." He's not even shy about saying it's gonna rake in a boat load of money.

The police chief just completely refuses to answer the reporters direct question about why the cops report is not factual about the incident, and also says he needs to know what the verbal exchange was too, which to me implies he may condone excessive force if the man who was assaulted SAID something that made the cop "angry"....total bully tactics...

I have been beat up by a police woman for questioning her rude and harsh behavior after a traffic stop, it became clear to me that day you absolutely can not expect fair treatment from the cops.....for the record I am a clean cut, small, middle aged woman with no criminal record....when I asked later for any footage of the incident I was told that since they weren't arresting me for assault, claiming I "lunged" at her, TOTAL LIE, I was not given access to the tape.

Moral of the story....NEVER interact with the police, and never expect fair treatment from them.....

Originally posted by benrl

Originally posted by Krazysh0t

Originally posted by benrl
When you call something police are responsible for a War, this is what you get.

And wait for the defenders of the police state in 3... 2... 1...

With the highest prison population in the world, land of the free we are no longer. That is just a lie people tell themselves to repress the cold truth that America is turning into a totalitarian state.

Cognitive dissonance at its finest, American Exceptionalism, having the moral right, long gone.

The truth is too hard for many to face.

i'm starting to have thoughts like those people that left Germany during the early 1930's, who were able to read the writing on the wall regarding the slowly emerging German police state. I have been thinking about what country would be the easiest to move to, and be the most comfortable for my way of life. with our civil liberties under attack, the vast amount of personal information being gathered by every government, in collusion with corporate entities, couple that with the blessings of the supreme court, the American police state seems to be closing in.

I wasn't arrested, But a few of my friends were for possession, so the numbers make sense.

So four percent of Americans were arrested last year?

Is that signifigantly higher than comparable countries?

Anyone?


Does that include illegal aliens arrested as well?

It's worse than that actually. I pegged the actual incarceration rates over a lifetime more like 1 in 2.5

This is taking prisoner population, parole, criminal records, eliminating woman and children (as they make up a fraction of the statistic.)

It seems like unless you are in government, a public official, or a police officer, you are bound to get arrested at some point in your life.



It's so bad it's actually funny.

Originally posted by boncho
It's worse than that actually. I pegged the actual incarceration rates over a lifetime more like 1 in 2.5

.

I would like to see your crazy math on that.

There are a lot of variables that I think you are missing...

Originally posted by BaneOfQuo

Originally posted by boncho
It's worse than that actually. I pegged the actual incarceration rates over a lifetime more like 1 in 2.5

.

I would like to see your crazy math on that.

There are a lot of variables that I think you are missing...

edit on 14-8-2013 by BaneOfQuo because: (no reason given)

The only thing missing was my long form:

You can read the post here.

And I was delighted when I made the original post, (it's coming back to me now) because a quick search reaffirmed my suspicions.

Nearly a third of Americans are arrested by 23

By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life.

Originally posted by boncho

Originally posted by Kromlech
Note to self: DON'T BREAK THE LAW, AND YOU WON'T GO TO PRISON. Tah-duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This link says 45 Million people have records in the US

I'm not sure if that's including the 6M in jail?

In any case, that's what? 1 in 6?

This source cites that 23.7% of people in the US are under 18.

And also, 50% roughly are female.

So 70 Million are ineligible because they are under 18. 150 million, or roughly are women. So now take 150 plus 35 (half of the under18 that are woman to minus it from the 150 stat.)

That leaves us with about 115 Men in the US, eligible to be a statistic. 45 million of those have a record.

Oops, minus the 7% that women make up in jails.

No matter what, you are talking more like 1 in 2.5 (or 1 in 3) men land themselves behind bars at some point.

Seriously, do the math over.

Consider that whatever stat you take, you are taking it usually for a year's worth of data.

This link cites 1.6 million arrests a year.

Of course we have to factor in people who reoffend. But no matter what, in an 80 year life span that's nearly half the population's worth of arrests.

-

Think about it, 45 million people with records, 6 million people behind bars, but there's only a pool of about 185115 million they are fishing from!!

The math broken down?

45 Million with records.

Population of 300 some odd million residents. But, eliminate Woman and Children (women make up a small percentage of those convicted and children are ineligible.)

So its like:

300 Million - 150 Million (50% of population is female) -70 Million of minors, half of those is deducted from the male population. 150 million -35 million. 115 Million.

45 Million with records.


I made a minor typo in my first analysis. Mind you, that was all rather quickly done but it was right. 1 in 2.5 (if not more) are going to end up with records in the US.

If that is not a police state, then I don't know what defines the word.

reply to post by boncho


I didn't realize incarceration and a criminal record were the same thing. Golly whiz.


Additionally, you cannot just omit almost half the population because you believe they are statistically irrelevant. You are skewing the data.

Take your hill billy, biased calculations elsewhere lol

reply to post by BaneOfQuo


I just wanted to say....

Hill Billy....

Really?

Where on God's green earth did you get "hill billy" from any of that?

Want to know my "hill billy" opinion?



Golly.................wiz................