Draggingtree Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Are Harsh Sentencing Laws Driving Up Homicide Rates? FEBRUARY 2, 2016 Justin Murray In recent years, there has been a growing awareness fact that the United States imprisons a far larger percentage of its population than many other nations. Much of this is due to the fact that what we call crime in the US is often not an imprisonable offense in the EU nations. In the US, for example, a prison term is commonly employed for small-time drug offenders. According a study done by the Vera Institute of Justice, such sentences are rarely used for drug offenses in Germany and the Netherlands. This is even true of more serious crimes. The report notes: In most cases — even for relatively serious crimes such as burglary, aggravated assault, or other crimes considered felonies in the United States — prosecutors divert offenders away from prosecution or judges sanction offenders with fines, suspended sentences, or community service. In both the Netherlands and Germany, fines are used extensively as a primary sanction. Source: Bureau of Prisons, February 2009 https://mises.org/library/are-harsh-sentencing-laws-driving-homicide-rates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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