Huh, I was under the impression that most prisoners in the US were in privatised prisons. If that is not the case, then this does not seem to explain either the prison boom.
Politicians like to be seen doing something. Punishing bad people is easy. Building prisons is the cost but politicians don't pay this cost and people don't understand the financial cost of the prisons nor the cost it inflicts on those imprisoned and their families.
Politicians also like to control people. You do this through laws and regulations. Combined with punitive measures you coerce people into thinking and behaving as you need them. Those who don't or are less desirable; poor who don't fund campaigns and such; are easy targets.
Politicians also want to put groups against each other, distracting both sides from all the other activities that the politician may be engaged in.
TL;DR Politicians crave power and money, it is simple to "protect" the people by making it easier to put people in jail claiming a problem solved.
But the politicians aren't the ones doing the sentencing. They just write the laws. The Slate article suggests that it's the judges who are handing out increasingly Draconian sentencing. Why are judges doing that?
They're "supposed to" be appointed. This is the way it used to be and the way it constitutionally has to be at the federal level. But I think more than half of states have elected judges.
True, they often run unopposed, but that doesn't free then from political pressure; if they make an unpopular decision, any lawyer could opt to run against them by simply campaigning as not the other judge. They would usually win and get a fantastic résumé boost.
It varies from state to state (perhaps even county to county) In some places they are appointed, in others they are elected.
When they are elected, even if they run unopposed they still tend to act tough on crime. If a judge or prosecutor started acting weak, the could very quickly find themselves opposed in the next election.
Often times judges have their hands tied. Many minimum sentencing laws were passed in the late '80's & throughout the '90's in response to the crime waves of the era. Judges simply can't give lower sentences in many instances even if they want to. In my opinion, this is a significant contributing factor.
You have to think about this in the context of history. The US has largely been diverse throughout most of its history. Most developed countries are largely dominated by one race.
i don't understand this argument, can you elaborate? it looks like you're suggesting that usa is a nexus of interracial violence and other race-motivated crimes.
Not only that, but the private prison population was very small in the 1980's and early 1990's when the vast majority of the prison boom happened. Private prisons are mostly a late-90's and 2000's reaction to the desire of states to save money housing their huge prison populations.
The private prison meme is far larger than the actual number, which is eight percent. Elsewhere in this people are asking how much of US manufacturing is from prison labor, I doubt it is large enough to accurately measure.
Someone would have to do a survey but I would guess that 90% of Europeans buy into it. Of course they also believe that they will be carjacked if they come to the US so I don't think their opinions are useful.
Politicians like to be seen doing something. Punishing bad people is easy. Building prisons is the cost but politicians don't pay this cost and people don't understand the financial cost of the prisons nor the cost it inflicts on those imprisoned and their families.
Politicians also like to control people. You do this through laws and regulations. Combined with punitive measures you coerce people into thinking and behaving as you need them. Those who don't or are less desirable; poor who don't fund campaigns and such; are easy targets.
Politicians also want to put groups against each other, distracting both sides from all the other activities that the politician may be engaged in.
TL;DR Politicians crave power and money, it is simple to "protect" the people by making it easier to put people in jail claiming a problem solved.