[Tainari88]

I got interested in this topic more recently and decided to post a Quora response from some professional psychologists who have dealt with prison populations for a long time. They do discuss what works or not.

What percentage of the population are criminals?
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Rhonda Hohertz
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Master's Degree in Psychology, Licensed psychotherapist4y
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How does the intelligence of criminals tend to compare to that of the general population?
I spent 23 years working in prisons. Inmates generally tended to have less than average intelligence in my experience. I did see some people like pedophiles who had doctorate degrees but they were the exception rather than the rule. Inmates were incarcerated for three basic groups of crimes: Stupid stuff, Stupid violent stuff and Stupid sick stuff. Here are examples of all three (in order) that I just confined to convenience stores. I remember an inmate walking into a convenience store and putting a gym bag on the counter, announcing a robbery and stating the gym bag was a bomb. The clerk jumped over the counter, beat the crap out of the robber and threw him out of the store. The clerk called the police who responded. They opened the gym bag and of course found the robber’s wallet with his identification. I remember an inmate who walked into a convenience store started to pull his pistol out of his pants to rob the store and shot himself in the testicle. He was so angry that he then shot the clerk and killed them. Of course he was bleeding badly from shooting his testicle off and had to go to the hospital where he was arrested for the murder. I remember another inmate who entered a convenience store with a rifle and forced a female clerk into the back room where he raped her. He then called the police and announced the hostage situation. He held the female clerk in the back room as a hostage. His demand to turn her loose was he wanted the police to bring his son to the scene and then he would surrender. The police felt this was a reasonable demand and stated they would comply. They went out in full force to find his son only to figure out he did not have a son.

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Anthony
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Former Software Engineer at X (Alphabet Inc.)2y
So this question is a bit complicated to answer, because it depends on your definitions and is a huge topic of research on it’s own. In my opinion a “criminal” is someone who has done a serious crime and/or has a behavior pattern of repeatedly committing serious crimes. Misdemeanors are usually victimless crimes, or low enough level crimes that rarely have jail time so I don’t think it makes sense to call those people “criminals” if they just made a mistake once and don’t have a history of breaking the law. The general public usually thinks of a criminal as someone who robs and steals/ is in a gang/drug dealer etc.. basically someone who commits felonies.

I’m going to go with the definition that a “criminal” is someone that commits a felony that they have been convicted for and are either serving time or are on probation. This has a lot of grey area, because there is a percentage of convictions that are errors, and likewise there are a large number of unsolved cases, people who get their crimes dismissed despite being guilty etc. So for simplicity, this is just a rough ballpark with a margin of error going both ways.

As of 2020, the US incarcerated population was 2.3 million people, 698 per 100,000 or 0.698% of the population. A lot of these people (470k) end up not getting convicted, so that number drops somewhat. Most of the people who are convicted are repeat offenders, with an estimate of around 83% having prior arrests in the previous 9 years.

So 0.698% is only accounting for people who were convicted of a crime and in jail/prison for it. If you look at all felons(so anyone ever convicted of a felony) that percentage is 2.27% of the population, however this includes people that have served their time and in my opinion should not be considered criminals if they aren't committing crimes anymore. One of the reasons the US prison system has a large recidivism rate is in how we treat people who commit crimes. They carry a stigma around with them, permanent punishments etc which basically guarantees they will get back into trouble as a self fulfilling prophecy. Countries like Denmark have the opposite approach, they treat criminals well and their recidivism rates are drastically lower.

Sources:

Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020
Report showing the number of people who are locked up in different types of facilities and why - 2020.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3969807/
Number of People by State Who Cannot Vote Due to a Felony Conviction - Felon Voting - ProCon.org
According to The Sentencing Project, about 4.6 million Americans were disenfranchised (not allowed to vote) because of a felony conviction in 2022, down from about 5.2 million in 2020. Each state determines voting policy for people convicted of felonies within its borders. The policies range from being allowed to vote from prison to permanently losing [...]Read More... from Number of People by State Who Cannot Vote Due to a Felony Conviction
https://felonvoting.procon.org/number-o ... onviction/
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Brian White
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How does the intelligence of criminals tend to compare to that of the general population?
The correlation matrix below gives the Pearson correlation coefficient for IQ and a range of crimes. If you read the column X1, just go down the list and you will see the correlations. Note that all of the correlations are negative. This means that as IQ goes from high to low, the crime rate increases.


The left figure below shows the mean number of crimes committed (vertical axis) as a function of test scores. As the test scores increase, the number of crimes committed decreases. The right figure below shows the percent of people at a given test score who have a history of any criminal behavior… (more)

I think the best course of action is to treat prisoners well and give them opportunities for change. The vast majority respond well to that. If you give them lifelong sentences that never work for when they have served their time but are unable to hold a job or live at all with rents and or working? Crime is the only avenue they will return to. In reality not serving the basics to people usually leads to worsening crime statistics.

What is your opinion? Solutions?

[Rich]

I think the best course of action is to treat prisoners well and give them opportunities for change.

Well in part that seems to have been the approach taken by his Royal Highness Prince Andrew in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, when he went to stay with him. Epstein had served his time, so shouldn't he have been given a chance to rehabilitate himself? Now some will say that Epstein was not properly punished in the first place and that he had committed other crimes that he hadn't been prosecuted with. Maybe so, but the failings of the American justice system were hardly Prince Andrew's responsibility. If Royalty can not take a lead on giving a second chance to criminals who have served their time then who can?

[Tainari88]

Well in part that seems to have been the approach taken by his Royal Highness Prince Andrew in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, when he went to stay with him. Epstein had served his time, so shouldn't he have been given a chance to rehabilitate himself? Now some will say that Epstein was not properly punished in the first place and that he had committed other crimes that he hadn't been prosecuted with. Maybe so, but the failings of the American justice system were hardly Prince Andrew's responsibility. If Royalty can not take a lead on giving a second chance to criminals who have served their time then who can?

The wealthy I do not cry for. Most of them have access to the best lawyers and defense money can buy and often avoided a lot of their crimes due to their financial power. They often would have been thrown in jail a lot sooner if they had been poor. That is reality.

The vast majority of criminals in jail Rich in the US are people who will eventually be let out. Lifers are few.

If they can't get a job or hold a job to pay for rent or bills? It will lead to desperation and eventually criminal behavior again.

One of the best things one can do is get the criminals or prisoners some vocation they can do well and feel good about. Get them jobs and at least a room to rent and a way to and from work.

Unfortunately, many crimes in the US are about also the state making money or a lack of interest in supportive structures for when the prisoners are let out into the general population.

Many of them need medications, better diets, exercise, education programs vocational or university track if they can do the academic work involved, and etc supports. Something to look forward to.

Very few people are hardcore criminals. Most people are fairly good citizens. That is why I tell people do not worry about evil as much as indifference or lack of action on the part of the many. The latter is a lot more a common failing and why there is social and economic collapse. Lack of action by the many.

[Rancid]

The wealthy I do not cry for

I do.

I would gladly sacrifice you to Jeff Bezos.

[Potemkin]

Well in part that seems to have been the approach taken by his Royal Highness Prince Andrew in his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, when he went to stay with him. Epstein had served his time, so shouldn't he have been given a chance to rehabilitate himself? Now some will say that Epstein was not properly punished in the first place and that he had committed other crimes that he hadn't been prosecuted with. Maybe so, but the failings of the American justice system were hardly Prince Andrew's responsibility. If Royalty can not take a lead on giving a second chance to criminals who have served their time then who can?

Bear in mind that non-Brits don’t understand the British ironic mode, @Rich….

[Puffer Fish]

8 percent of the total U.S. adult population has been convicted of a crime that is classified as a felony, which tends to result in certain lifetime restrictions of rights (for example, the right to vote in many states, the right to be allowed to have a gun, can make it much harder to get certain career licenses or be able to be hired in many types of jobs).
The share of the Black adult population in the U.S. that has a felony conviction is about 23 percent.

These percentages are very high, compared to the rest of the world.

[ingliz]

These percentages are very high

Nearly 80 million Americans, or about one-third of the total U.S. adult population, are living with some kind of criminal record.

[Negotiator]

Hmm yeah.

1. The USA has more inmates than any other country on the planet. More than India, the country with the highest population. More than China, which has almost as many people as India.

2. The USA has FIVE times more inmates per capita than world average, higher than any other country.

3. This was archieved by riddiculous, obviously unjust laws like three strikes, criminalization of lesser drugs like marihuana, etc. Also of course lack of rehabilitation.

4. Effectively the USA, with the privatization of their prison system, still has slavery. The prison system really offers huge profits to rich people. Thats the core issue why theres so many inmates in the USA.

5. Keeping someone imprisoned is actually super expensive. More expensive than the work of many highly qualified specialists. If we would just give this money to these prisoners, many wouldnt ever commit a crime because they have no reason to. This massive prison population causes quite the toll on the US finances. But its a conversion of state money into profits for the rich, so that is not spoken of.

6. Imprisoned are the poor. The rich are pretty much above the law. Unless, despite being rich, they dare opposing the interests of the US empire. Thats of course especially obvious in the case of Donald Trump. But also for example for Elon Musk, who keeps getting threatened all the time, or Alex Jones, who basically had his free speech revoked. And Jeffrey Epstein of course embarassed a lot of influental people, thats why he was suicided. The conditions of his death have been absurd to the extreme, there is no way he actually killed himself. Same for John McAfee, though that didnt happen within the USA. McAfee had twittered himself that if we would be found, someone would have murdered him. And of course exactly that happened.

[MistyTiger]

Nearly 80 million Americans, or about one-third of the total U.S. adult population, are living with some kind of criminal record.

This is true. And not all of them are negatively affected by it.

The share of the Black adult population in the U.S. that has a felony conviction is about 23 percent.

Not every conviction was legit and not all led to a prison sentence. Legal professionals are aware that in some of those cases, the Blacks were wrongly convicted or faced some form of bias. Many Blacks live in poorer districts like the Bronx and they have limited opportunities for education or apprenticeships, so some turn to drug dealing and the black market or other illegal activities.

I really believe that education should be more available for everyone and it should be improved. Educated citizens are stronger and better citizens than the poor and uneducated.

[Puffer Fish]

Legal professionals are aware that in some of those cases, the Blacks were wrongly convicted or faced some form of bias. Many Blacks live in poorer districts like the Bronx and they have limited opportunities for education or apprenticeships, so some turn to drug dealing and the black market or other illegal activities.

Blacks in the U.S. are wrongfully convicted at much higher rates due to three main reasons.

1. Black neighborhoods often have higher crime rates, so statistically a black person is more likely to be wrongfully accused of a crime that happened. Many black neighborhoods have also traditionally been in more urban city areas and have a higher police presence, so people are more likely to be stopped by police in these areas.
2. A lot of white people have a hard time telling the faces of different black people apart and kind of think all their faces look the same. So it's more likely for a white witness to get black faces confused. And in court, there's pressure to tell the jury that the witness is sure that person is the perpetrator, because any doubt could create a risk that the guilty person goes free.
3. Black people are often given less benefit of the doubt. If it is suspected an individual committed the crime, they will be punished, despite the possibility that exists that they might not have done it.
This is what I would describe as a more subtle and complex form of racism, but is the primary and most important type of racism that exists. I think it has to do with people in some areas being frustrated at the high rates of black crime, and also viewing black lives as being less valuable, so it further shifts the balance of justice between victim and suspect, which is always a trade-off.

[Tainari88]

Nearly 80 million Americans, or about one-third of the total U.S. adult population, are living with some kind of criminal record.

It is easy to get arrested and get a criminal record in the USA.

Unless you have plenty of money for a lawyer they pressure you into a plea bargain deal that favors the state or the system.

Most people who are convicted of a crime are disqualified from the majority of professions, like teaching, health care, law enforcement, legal professions, political posts, government jobs including supervisors at the USPS (United States Postal Service), many military jobs, and anything having to do with intelligence and security. A lot of stores also do not hire people convicted of felonies period. So the job prospects are dismal for many convicts. If it is a sexual offender thing they need to register nationwide with the sex offender registry. People can vote to bar you from getting an apartment.

You also are disqualified from receiving food stamp services, and being allowed to stay in government Section 8 sponsored housing. Public housing is also barring you from being in a household that receives government subsidies.

A landlord can also never have to rent to you. They can legally say you are not allowed to be on a lease or rent.

It severely cuts your rights off fast.

[MistyTiger]

Blacks in the U.S. are wrongfully convicted at much higher rates due to three main reasons.

1. Black neighborhoods often have higher crime rates, so statistically a black person is more likely to be wrongfully accused of a crime that happened. Many black neighborhoods have also traditionally been in more urban city areas and have a higher police presence, so people are more likely to be stopped by police in these areas.
2. A lot of white people have a hard time telling the faces of different black people apart and kind of think all their faces look the same. So it's more likely for a white witness to get black faces confused. And in court, there's pressure to tell the jury that the witness is sure that person is the perpetrator, because any doubt could create a risk that the guilty person goes free.
3. Black people are often given less benefit of the doubt. If it is suspected an individual committed the crime, they will be punished, despite the possibility that exists that they might not have done it.
This is what I would describe as a more subtle and complex form of racism, but is the primary and most important type of racism that exists. I think it has to do with people in some areas being frustrated at the high rates of black crime, and also viewing black lives as being less valuable, so it further shifts the balance of justice between victim and suspect, which is always a trade-off.

I think the main problem is that Whites as a majority want to blame crime on others and Blacks are the most obvious target. Blacks are the scapegoat. Blacks can be very vocal with their dissent.

I remember as a child, someone's kid was hassling me. The mother of this white boy was like, "My son is so good and would not do anything wrong." She shielded him, but he did apologize anyhow at the teacher's request. The teacher didn't want me to keep being upset.

So this mindset of a white person not capable of crime or that whites are always good pervades society and often, the blame wrongly gets transferred onto a minority.

Also, some studies show that Blacks have a high level of aggression. But I think this aggression is really their energetic and competitive nature. Blacks are often very athletic. So many marathon winners are Black. I don't think that Blacks are as violent as the media wants us to believe.

[Puffer Fish]

I think the main problem is that Whites as a majority want to blame crime on others and Blacks are the most obvious target. Blacks are the scapegoat. Blacks can be very vocal with their dissent.

I think you are thinking with your emotions. Think about this. How would that idea of yours apply in a situation in real life?

Keep in mind we were talking about black individuals wrongly convicted of crimes. If you're referring to something other than that, fine, but I think most people would assume you were talking about that.

You think there's a murder victim, or something was stolen, and police just grab a random black man and pin the blame on him??
I really don't think it's that simple.

[Puffer Fish]

Also, some studies show that Blacks have a high level of aggression.

Probably the hormone levels. Take any person and inject them with testosterone to a level that's common in many black males and their aggression level would increase. Also why Chinese/Korean have lower aggression levels.
(notice how penis size and muscle mass correlates too)

Blacks are often very athletic. So many marathon winners are Black.

A lot of blacks tend to develop in body and muscle growth earlier than other races.
There are a lot of 14 and even 13 year old blacks who are as strong and tall as average 18 year old white males. It's not very uncommon.
Also, statistically, blacks don't have to try as hard to be able to put on muscle. Just do a little light exercise and they get big defined muscles.
While it's the opposite for Asians. They have to try really hard to get any muscle definition and usually it just doesn't look anywhere as defined and bulky as a muscular white or black person.
I may be exaggerating a little bit but it exists.

[Rich]

A big problem is convicted people can't vote. This is a very popular measure with fascists and semi fascists. In my view all adult citizens should be allowed to vote even if on death row. Now I know some people won't like this because that might put a break on enslaving and criminalising vast sections of the population. But that is exactly the point.

Prison is a good idea, but it needs to be used in moderation. Apartheid Israel is a good example of what happens when you deny rights to a really huge percentage of the population.

[late]

A big problem is convicted people can't vote.

They can vote in Maine.

The historical roots of that goes back to the suppression of Blacks after Reconstruction ended.

[MistyTiger]

I think you are thinking with your emotions. Think about this. How would that idea of yours apply in a situation in real life?

Keep in mind we were talking about black individuals wrongly convicted of crimes. If you're referring to something other than that, fine, but I think most people would assume you were talking about that.

You think there's a murder victim, or something was stolen, and police just grab a random black man and pin the blame on him??
I really don't think it's that simple.

I am referring to racial bias that is inherent in the USA where Whites are the majority. If you saw the Denzel Washington movie Roots, based on the book called Roots, you'd see. There's this scene where Denzel is reading the dictionary and compares and contrasts the definitions for white and black, where black has the more negative meanings.

Or even, consider that people have a fear of the dark. No one fears white light, right? White is associated with the good. Black is associated with evil and bad acts, like selling on the black market.

According to the link below, nearly 60 percent of the people freed or exonerated since 1992 by the Innocent Project are Black.

https://innocenceproject.org/race-and-w ... onviction/

This demographic rate is consistent with research by the National Registry of Exonerations showing that more than half of the 3,300 people who were exonerated between 1989 and 2022 are Black, despite the fact that Black people account for just 13.6% of the U.S. population. Indeed, a 2022 report from the registry found that innocent Black people were seven times more likely to be wrongly convicted of murder than innocent white people. The racial disproportionality in wrongful conviction cases reflects persistent biases in the criminal legal system.

This statistic is consistent with what I learned as a legal justice student in college. My sociology professor mentioned the bias and he was a White man, not that it matters.

[MistyTiger]

Probably the hormone levels. Take any person and inject them with testosterone to a level that's common in many black males and their aggression level would increase. Also why Chinese/Korean have lower aggression levels.
(notice how penis size and muscle mass correlates too)

According to the link below, Mongolia, a country in Asia, is number 1 for highest testosterone levels. Some Chinese have some Mongolian ancestry by the way. So I wouldn’t be so quick to put down every Asian for low aggression or small size. And Bruce Lee was Asian but quite impressive during his prime. He had impressive ab muscles according to some fitness magazines. I read an article back in 2008 maybe and the writer admired his physique and dedication. Huzzah!

https://xwerks.com/blogs/xwerks/which-c ... one-levels




High testosterone levels can also lead to balding and other unpleasant effects. Being bulky or muscular isn't everything. Anyone can be lean and fit, if they just put in the effort every week and through many years. Too much bulk can even look scary at times.

I found another source which ranks a place in Russia as having the highest testosterone levels, Chita Russia. Mongolia is still in the top 5.

https://testosteronedecline.com/what-co ... tosterone/

The US ranks low.

[Verv]

The percentage of the American population that have committed a serious crime (a felony) is quite high according to this:

New research led by a University of Georgia sociologist on the growth in the scope and scale of felony convictions finds that, as of 2010, 3 percent of the total U.S. population and 15 percent of the African-American male population have served time in prison. People with felony convictions more broadly account for 8 percent of the overall population and 33 percent of the African-American male population.

USGA

I thjink... having gone to jail, or having a felony on your record, is at least a good sign that you were at one time a criminal... And that's maybe the best way to approach this.

Defining when someone is no longer a criminal is difficult.

But I think most people would say that the people who are in jail right now for a murder they did in 2012 are criminals... Still. Even if they have reformed. It might be best to say that you stop being a criminal when you have finished your sentence, and that is conditioned on the idea that you are also no longer engaged in crime.

At least, serious crime. A former inmate who has gone 7 miles over the speed limit or who has an unpaid parking ticket is not like... some standing criminal for that.

It's unknowable but a good question.

I think the best course of action is to treat prisoners well and give them opportunities for change. The vast majority respond well to that. If you give them lifelong sentences that never work for when they have served their time but are unable to hold a job or live at all with rents and or working? Crime is the only avenue they will return to. In reality not serving the basics to people usually leads to worsening crime statistics.

What is your opinion? Solutions?

Rehabilitation has to be the key to any kind of criminal justice system since the tiem in prison is the punishment, and you want them to not commit more crime.

That's very easy to say. The issues with the system are so numerous that books are written about it, and since the US is so large, has so many different places doing different things... it may even be impossible to generalize.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the justice systems of Washington and New Hampshire are on par with Western European countries, and that those in Alabama and Louisiana are closer to systems in the developing world than they are to Western European ones.

The USA is a strange place .