** The Land of the Free? The American Prison State with Dr. Daniel J. D’Amico **
Daniel D’Amico completed his Ph.D. at George Mason University and defended his dissertation, “The Imprisoner’s Dilemma: The Political Economy of Proportionate Punishment,” in May, 2008. He has received fellowships from the H.B. Earhart Foundation, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies. Professor D’Amico now teaches at Loyola University New Orleans.
FACT: One in every one hundred Americans today is behind bars.
Please read that again!!
How did this come to be?
Why is it that MORE people are incarcerated in the United States than in any other country? Does our society really produce that many people who deserve to be locked up? And, are we really safer with all this massive level of incarceration?
When you consider that a large number of these people are non-violent offenders, you have to ask: is this the best we can do?
Are there alternative systems to incarceration that would produce a safer, more harmonious and more peaceful society?
What would the effect of privatizing the police, for example, be?
Or privatizing the courts – and creating competitive courts?
Would we expect crime to increase and for more people to end up behind bars? Or, would it be the opposite?
Would we have a safer society with less people in prison? Could there even be real alternative to prison?
In this interview we will also discuss Dr. D’Amico’s upcoming Mises Academy course, The American Prison State. This will certainly be a fascinating look at an important topic, the consequences of which affect us all either directly or indirectly. This 8-week course will be taught entirely ONLINE and begins on June 7, 2011. Find out more about it here.
With Show Creator, Producer and Guest-Host Mr. Luke McGrath.
Play mp3 here 
RFM_Dan_DAmico_Final_060411
