United States imprisons more people than China, Russia or any other nation, experts say

clipped from www.newstarget.com by: Ben Kage Criminal justice experts from the U.S. Justice Department report that the United States has the largest prison population and highest incarceration rate in the world A report released by the justice department on Nov. 30 reported 1 in every 32 American adults -- or a record 7 million people -- were incarcerated, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, with 2.2 million of them in prison or jail. this number was the highest of any country, with China ranking second The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. We send more people to prison, for more different offenses, for longer periods of time than anybody else," he said. You don't create safer communities by rounding up increasing numbers of people for committing victimless crimes. King said the prison figures also draw attention to the failure of social programs, such as the ones that cover education, poverty, urban development, health care and childcare