Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post
Everyone always is impressed when someone accomplishes that coveted award or title of Number One–Numero Uno, which defines the epitome of accomplishment. For many years the USA stood proud at the Olympics, taking home more gold medals than any country. The USA many times has had the honor of being number one in many more categories. However, in recent years, Old Glory may be somewhat embarrassed by many of the Number One spots USA statistics has had her flying in. Let’s take a closer look to see where we shine as Number One.
First and foremost, it seems that the USA quickly is becoming a police-controlled population or state. That dubious recognition is attained from incarceration statistics, which certainly are not enviable. Back in October of 2012, Salon featured the article “US has more prisoners, prisons than any other country.” [1] According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the USA had 730 incarcerated persons for every 100,000 in population. We ‘towered’ over the second-best rival, the Czech Republic, which had slightly over 200 incarcerations per 100,000 population. The USA outshined Mexico for Numero Uno; Mexico’s rate was 200 per 100,000.