Crime keeps falling in U.S.A.

[Icequeen]

...I guess I'm pro-life, but I can respect those who choose otherwise, because unless I walk in their shoes I don't feel it's my right to make that decision for them.

8 years can change your viewpoint.

A year or so ago I was given a pregnancy test before having an xray done. I looked at the girl like she was high on crack. I said "I'm peri-menopausal FFS and I'm 48-49...and my tubes are tied."  She was quick to inform me how often age doesn't matter and how having your tubes tied doesn't matter either..."I've seen it happen a LOT" she said...and laughed. I wanted to grab her by her head of long blonde hair and mop the floor with her...but thankfully...I was too sick.

I googled it later...and she was right. It happens. A LOT.
I am high risk...injections/oral birth control options were refused...shot down by my doctors due to potential medical risks...I had to fight tooth and nail just for them to finally tie my tubes after I almost died having my son...and after watching my son fight to live for 2 months after being born 3 months premature...all because of some factor in my blood that no one could find until shit went south. I was told it probably would happen again, only next time maybe worse...even with that shit written down on a paper from my hematologist in red...it still was a fight to sway my gyn....because "I might change my mind." ...or the best one..."what if your husband wants more children?"

My test from the crack smoking little blonde was negative, but all that time I THOUGHT I had my i's dotted and my t's crossed and it blew me AWAY, because IF the results had somehow been different, I know what my choice may have well been. In fact, I'm 90% certain what it would have been.

Personally, it no longer matters now thankfully, but I've come to realize I am definitely pro-choice...and more than willing to stand beside other women and fight for their right to be able to choose also.

['andersom']

That is creepy.

Yes it is. Not even sure how many people even realize it.

What percentage of the USA population is incarcerated now?

['andersom']

...I guess I'm pro-life, but I can respect those who choose otherwise, because unless I walk in their shoes I don't feel it's my right to make that decision for them.

8 years can change your viewpoint.

A year or so ago I was given a pregnancy test before having an xray done. I looked at the girl like she was high on crack. I said "I'm peri-menopausal FFS and I'm 48-49...and my tubes are tied."  She was quick to inform me how often age doesn't matter and how having your tubes tied doesn't matter either..."I've seen it happen a LOT" she said...and laughed. I wanted to grab her by her head of long blonde hair and mop the floor with her...but thankfully...I was too sick.

I googled it later...and she was right. It happens. A LOT.
I am high risk...injections/oral birth control options were refused...shot down by my doctors due to potential medical risks...I had to fight tooth and nail just for them to finally tie my tubes after I almost died having my son...and after watching my son fight to live for 2 months after being born 3 months premature...all because of some factor in my blood that no one could find until shit went south. I was told it probably would happen again, only next time maybe worse...even with that shit written down on a paper from my hematologist in red...it still was a fight to sway my gyn....because "I might change my mind." ...or the best one..."what if your husband wants more children?"

My test from the crack smoking little blonde was negative, but all that time I THOUGHT I had my i's dotted and my t's crossed and it blew me AWAY, because IF the results had somehow been different, I know what my choice may have well been. In fact, I'm 90% certain what it would have been.

Personally, it no longer matters now thankfully, but I've come to realize I am definitely pro-choice...and more than willing to stand beside other women and fight for their right to be able to choose also.

It's strange how hard it is for women to get their tubes tied if they're under 35 and with less than three kids at least

[Jack]

That is creepy.

Yes it is. Not even sure how many people even realize it.

What percentage of the USA population is incarcerated now?

.71%

['andersom']

Wow. It's impressive.

A while ago it was around .5%, IIRC.

Does the main correlation seem to be privatisation of the prison system?

[Jack]

Wow. It's impressive.

A while ago it was around .5%, IIRC.

Does the main correlation seem to be privatisation of the prison system?

The privatization of prisons was the solution to the overcrowding problem, and actually has a longer history than some might realize. Though modern day privatization became a common solution before the decline in crime rates began. When the government has difficulty funding and/or managing their own responsibilities, sometimes the solution is delegating to the private sector. Government funded low-income housing is a prime example, not only for private sector implementation of a government program, but also an example where it has proven to be more beneficial for the recipient. Though don't know enough about government funded privately owned penal institutions to give an opinion if it's of any benefit to prisoners or the overall concept of housing prisoners. Don't personally see a correlation with anything, or notice anyone else who sensibly does, so delving into the why of the matter behind rising incarceration rates would likely involve venturing into conspiracy theory territory.

['andersom']

Not looking for conspiracy theories.

It's a weird correlation though. More prisoners when there is less crime.

(Taking it's not preemptive incarceration to explain the correlation. )

Interesting in my country was that during an election time a series of parties tried to work on the fear factor. Lets make the Netherlands safe again. They did not know what to do with figures that crime rates where dropping and that the severity of crimes also was lessening over all. For them it was not interesting in the battle for votes, apart from getting votes from prison guards who were getting the sack.

Edit, to add smiley.

[Jack]

It's a weird correlation though. More prisoners when there is less crime.

It is confusing, though my statement was specific to violent crime and not crime in general. The confusion may lie in analysis methods which falsely give the impression of less crime when in reality that isn't true. It's difficult to find reliably sourced overall crime stats for the US, because crime is analyzed by the government in a compartmentalized manner; primarily violent crime, property crime, cyber crime, and drug crime. Sometimes they overlap so that makes it impossible to simply combine those compartments into a reliable overall analysis. Individual trends for cyber and drug crime show increases which appear to agree with the incarceration rate. While data shows incarceration rates have been on the rise since the 20's, there's a remarkable escalation which began in the early 80's. The 80's mark the US beginning of the war on drugs, and with the 90s came the advent of widespread access to the internet. So while violent crime and property crime have been on the decline since the 90s, incarceration rate trends may simply show that crime rates in general have never been on the decline in the US.

[Jack]

Thanks for encouraging me to think about that, Hyke.