International Law

World Have Your Say

By John Hirst

The BBC World Service have just phoned me to take part in the programme tonight from 6 until 8 or 8.30. As I understand it, the topic under discussion will be whether the Americans have got it right to imprison so many of its citizens.

UPDATE:

?The United States has less than 5 percent of the world?s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world?s prisoners.? No country in the world rejects the idea of prison, but of course they vary on which crimes warrant time spent inside. So does your country get the balance right?

Is it too quick to resort to locking people up? Or are more and longer prison sentences needed to keep criminals out of society and to provide a decent deterrent?

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).