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Comment by cortesoft | Hacker News Reader

The US “locks people up” at a much higher rate, and for longer, than Japan does. About 1% of the adult population is in jail in the United States, and it’s about 0.03% of the population in Japan. The US puts people in jail at 30x the rate Japan does.

It is not because the US doesn’t lock people up enough.

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Japan has one of the highest numbers of psychiatric beds in the world. That's what I'm referring to. If you're experiencing psychosis in public in Japan, you will be removed from public spaces. This is not true in the US.

Thank “One flew over cuckoos nest” for that.

We are not talking jail, we are talking closed institution. The kind of hospital you check in but do not check out from, as many mental illnesses are incurable.

Buddy, I can deprive you of several days of sleep, put you under severe emotional duress and have you experience a psychotic breakdown. Are you seriously saying you yourself should then be locked up for life?

Are you saying that someone experiencing a psychotic breakdown should not get psychiatric care?

Try to be charitable in your interpretation.

Yeah my charitable interpretation is that it's all just a thin veneer over your main argument which is "kill the poor"

many ≠ all; chronic ≠ acute

Yes it is. It’s because they let them out again.

That is 1% of adults being CURRENTLY locked up, not people who have ever been locked up in their life. That means the stat already factors in how long they are in for.

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