>>Its not that the US is any more criminal or not, its that we have a greater population, ergo more criminals. A price we pay for freedom.
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>Um, beg to differ - the number is already expressed per capita (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_prison_population for full text):
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>"As of 2006, the incarceration rate in prison and jail, in the United States was 737 inmates per 100,000 or 1 of every 32 adults. [2]. For the most part, the U.S. rate is three to eight times that of the Western European nations and Canada. The rate in England and Wales, for example, is 139 persons imprisoned per 100,000 residents while in Norway it is 59 per 100,000. In many countries, it is common for prisoners to be paroled after serving as little as one third of their sentences. In the US, most states strictly limit parole, requiring at serving of at least half of the sentence. For certain heinous crimes, there is no parole and the full sentence must be served.
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>The prison population in China was 111 per 100,000 in 2001 (sentenced prisoners only), although this figure is highly disputed. Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in forced-labor camps for criticizing the government, estimates that 16 to 20 million of his countrymen are incarcerated, including common criminals, political prisoners, and people in involuntary job placements. Even ten million prisoners would mean a rate of 793 per 100,000. [7]"

Well so much for the "land of the free"...geeeze! 1 in 32? Is there any data that goes back farther? Like how long before it's 1 in 2? That'll be real interesting, one half locked up and the other half guarding them...ha