Comment by LochnerST on Does crime explain the exceptional US incarceration rate? · 2020-08-17T08:15:47.359Z · LW · GW

Thanks for the clarification !

Comment by LochnerST on Does crime explain the exceptional US incarceration rate? · 2020-08-16T13:09:14.759Z · LW · GW

Out of interest, what is the reasoning behind using homicide rates as a proxy for crime more generally? Countries with (relatively) high rates incarceration for non-violent drug offenders might skew the relationship (Thailand for example).

There is then a second question about whether or not non-violent drug offenders should be imprisoned (at all/at the rates that they are in some countries), but the argument that incarceration is explained by crime might hold in these countries.