If you aren't a criminal, you're probably about as likely to be incarcerated in the US as you are to be eaten by a crocodile in Australia. If I were you about be more worried about American crime rates than incarceration rates.
>>rsheri+(OP)
The chance of being eaten by a crocodile in Australia is about 1 in 20m in any given year (a lot less if you stay in the lower 2/3s of the country, essentially zero for > 95% of the population).
The article above indicates that many innocent people in the US are encouraged to plead guilty. I'm inclined to believe the opposite.
>>cromul+r
That was one of the 99.9% of statistics that were made up on the spot. The point is that being incarcerated for no reason is way down on the list of worries for Americans who aren't criminals - far below random encounters with criminals who haven't been incarcerated, for example.
And where does the article does not indicate that many innocent people in the US are encouraged to plead guilty?
>>rsheri+H
"Innocent defendants may plead guilty in return for a shorter sentence to avoid the risk of a much longer one. A prosecutor can credibly threaten a middle-aged man that he will die in a cell unless he gives evidence against his boss. This is unfair, complains Harvey Silverglate, the author of “Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent”. If a defence lawyer offers a witness money to testify that his client is innocent, that is bribery. But a prosecutor can legally offer something of far greater value—his freedom—to a witness who says the opposite. The potential for wrongful convictions is obvious."