AHC: Stop Mass Incarceration in US

John Fredrick Parker

Donor
Here's the challenge -- on the chart below, you'll notice a trend that started in the 1970's:

page1-776px-Incarceration_rate_of_inmates_incarcerated_under_state_and_federal_jurisdiction_per_100,000_population_1925-2008.pdf.jpg


Now, with the latest possible PoD, how does the US avoid this uptick, so that the incarceration rate remains in about the same range it used between 1925 to 1970 (with something like 150 per 100,000 being considered high end)?

I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of overlap with one of my earlier threads...
 

GTAmario

Banned
No war on drugs. Most of the people locked up are either for drugs (junkies and pushers) or drug related offenses (gangsters)
 

Gridley

Put marijuana under the same restrictions as alcohol IOTL. It wasn't always illegal.

Let the FDA regulate it and it will pose no more hazard than alcoholic beverages, and less than tobacco.

Have some unbiased doctors testify before Congress when the Controlled Substances Act (1970, IIRC) is in work and that ought to do it.
 

jycee

I'm not sure if they are connected in anyway but what if there is no Cold War? The Cold War affected culture in such away that it polarized it; either you are with us or you are one of "them". It severely limited political/social discourse within the country; to levels of ridiculousness. Because mostly everything that was off the mainstream was for the most part liberal/leftist, like any talk to legalize cannabis, it was labeled "like them" (read communist). American values were caricatured to everything that defended the "white Christian family". I think that without a Cold War Americans would be much more accepting of diverse political discourses and ideas. No Cold War is a huge cultural butterflier.

Ultimately this could lead to less restrictions on recreational drugs (maybe maybe not) and thus no drug war. Thus no mass incarceration.

Think of the TL 191 Universe; I know it is a bad example cause HT refused to explore the possibility of cultural change but if there was it could lead to the above scenario. In Tl 191 by the end of WWII the US has three parties; it is suggested that the Republicans are growing fast enough to make a comeback soon; one of them is quasi-socialist (even if the policies are just OTL's New Democrats it still affects culture in away that communist ideas would be an acceptable topic to talk about). The "cold war" rival is a conservative monarchical Europe under Germany (as well as a surviving A-H and Ottoman Empires); a conservative Imperial Japan; and the WWII enemy was basically a fascist America of radical conservative whites (and there is a radical christian group in Utah who jump started terrorist 40 years early). IMO the mostly likely path for this US to take would be to rapidly liberalize in all cultural aspects because it is what is rivals are not doing.
Although mass incarceration could still happen over anyone suspected of terrorism or being an ex-Freedom Party sympathizer, and many other things. It is not happening over drugs.
 

Gridley

jycee said:
I'm not sure if they are connected in anyway but what if there is no Cold War?
Click to expand...

Except the graphs clearly shows the trend starting in the mid-1970's.

The Cold War started in the late 1940's.

In that 30 year gap you have the Berlin Blockade, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis... yet the rate stays the same.

The Vietnam war is winding down and finally culture starts to polarize from the Cold War that has been going on for over a generation? Seems unlikely as a direct cause.

An indirect cause? Certainly possible.
 

Typo

Banned
In the U.S., the War on Drugs is thought to be contributing to a prison overcrowding problem. In 1996, 59.6%[21] of prisoners were drug-related criminals. The U.S. population grew by about +25% from 1980 to 2000. In that same 20 year time period, the U.S. prison population tripled, making the U.S. the world leader in both percentage and absolute number of citizens incarcerated.
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_drugs
 

Kevin R.

I'm in agreement with everyone else on this thread. Preventing the War on Drugs would butterfly away the mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders, and prevent much of the gang-related violence stemming from the drug trade.
 
The Kiat

The Kiat

The American Penal System was suppose to be about reforming criminals; perhaps stick to that instead of using prisons as holding pens, and maybe you'll see fewer repeat offenders.
 

Whanztastic

Got to avoid Nixon. Probably the best bet is RFK in '68.

If this is false, please be gentle with me RougeBeaver. I know now what I say.
 
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