fwiw I have been reading sky is falling stories like this for ten years now, but...

cheez · on June 18, 2011

You might want to check your data: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Incarceration_...

tedunangst · on June 18, 2011

Is that all due to copyright violation prosecutions?

cheez · on June 18, 2011

I can probably tell you it's not due to people becoming more evil.

tedunangst · on June 18, 2011

Are you sure? Is there an absolute measure of evil or just what a particular society considers evil?

As an example, when your graph started, people went to jail for sodomy. Now they don't. So if it's possible for society to reconsider something that was evil and decide it's not evil, surely the opposite must also be possible?

cheez · on June 18, 2011

Something like one-third of convictions are for victimless drug crimes as I understand it.

JoachimSchipper · on June 18, 2011

Come on, what are you actually trying to say?

tedunangst · on June 18, 2011

I don't think more people in jail indicates the sky has fallen.

cheez · on June 18, 2011

It has fallen for those. Boiling frog.