u.s. one high incarceration rat world thank awful lot really bad conservative policies 1970s 1980s design make us look tough crime mandatory minimum sentence imprisonment crimes really require put millions americans prison disproportionate affect minorities crime 30 years ago sure senator tehran tom cotton think actually under-incarcerating seriously make stuff actually labor delusion put enough people prison speak hudson institute bipartisan crime reform bill currently congress actually say first claim many criminals jail over-incarceration ignore unfortunate fact vast majority crimes perpetrator never identify arrest let alone prosecute convict jail law enforcement able arrest identify likely perpetrator 19 percent property crimes 47 percent violent crimes anything under-incarceration problem slam pro-leniency crowd complain tiny fraction federal prison population consist people incarcerate something like drug possession however federal bureau prisons say nearly half prison population drug offenses define use sale possession furnish illegal drug 16 percent state prison population incarcerate drug offenses.cotton let pesky things like facts bother though next three-year mandatory minimum sentence unpaid park ticket perhaps five-year prison sentence violate pet-limit laws know guy.besides u.s. percent world population 25 percent world prison population 2.3 million people prison nearly half black.any guess tom cotton think either notice unlikely get racist idea head something wrong black people make commit crime far likely something else say unjust sentence could interpret way discount possibility manifestly unjust sentence one proportion crime shock conscience anglo-american system justice give pardon power executive emphasis mine anglo-american system justice really nothing say wow man racist one question bring much get pay private prison lobby kind hardline increase mandatory minimum sentence nonsense ensure high prison capacities behest people tough crime policy.cotton man behind treasonous letter iran year ago seem suffer delusion actually study issue answer crime answer make societal ills bad cotton live live make things worse.featured image chip somodevilla/getty image tehran tom cotton say u.s. justice system anglo-american jail enough