Lock em Up and Throw Away the Key

Within the last week, two reports have been issued on human rights. The annual U.S. human rights report was released on Tuesday and it contained harsh criticism for China. Specifically, the report accuses Beijing of further restricting free speech, censoring the Internet, mistreating prisoners, and forcing relocations of people to make way for projects related to the Olympic Games to be held in August in Beijing.I have no doubt that the allegations against the communist leaders of China are true. Beijing’s leadership still retains a tight control over Chinese society in spite of the liberalization of the Chinese economy. One can hope that as the Chinese economy continues to open up and grow, a middle class will develop which will be a prelude to democratization and political liberty. We have seen this happen in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union and many political scientists believe it could happen again in China.

The second report in the last week was issued by the Pew Center. This report indicated that for the first time in history, more than one in every one hundred American adults is in custody, either jail or prison. The report went on to say that the United States is the world’s incarceration leader. With 2,319,258, adults behind bars, the U.S. is far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. The U.S. is also the world leader in per capita inmates with 750 per 100,000 people ahead of Russia with 628 per 100,000 people. Having only 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States imprisons 25 percent of the world’s inmates.

Do the U.S. prison statistics mean that we live in a crime ridden society? According to the Pew Center, the answer is no. The increase in the inmate population is not because crime has increased but because tougher sentencing laws such as three strikes and your out have increased sentences overall and therefore increased prison populations.

Absent from the analysis is the effect of the so called “Drug War”. It is estimated that over 50 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons are there as a result of the Drug War. We are not talking about violent criminals necessarily, but recreational drug users. Even the violent drug criminals would be greatly diminished in number if all drugs were decriminalized and they had the opportunity to buy and sell in the free market. When was the last time there was a shootout over a loaf of bread deal gone bad?

However, this article is not about advocating for the decriminalization of drugs. It is about comparing the two civil rights reports that were released recently. One shows a country with still a long way to go in guaranteeing civil rights for all its citizens. But from other indicators, specifically economic, it is a country that is headed in the right direction as far as building a society based on middle class values and liberty. The other report names the country that imprisons more citizens than any other in the world. But from other indicators, specifically legislative, it is a country that is headed in the wrong direction as far as restoring a society based on middle class values and liberty. With a continuance of the “Drug War” and the so called “Patriot Act” as well as a few other unconstitutional laws in the congressional pipeline more rights will be lost by Americans and the prison population will continue to grow. Before the U.S government criticizes other countries for human rights violations it should clean up its own act. After all, he who lives in a glass house should not throw stones.

Pew Center on the States: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org

Kenn Jacobine teaches for the American International School of Lusaka, Zambia