You're assuming a 1% absolute difference could easily exist given equal laws, enforcement, and penalties. If you say you're just asserting that for purposes of the experiment, you still can't say anything because the assertion may well be nonsense.
You're assuming you can tease it apart (e.g. existing laws and enforcement's influence on criminal culture) such that stats are "missing", it's not clear that you can. In fact, evidence (prohibition) more likely says you can't.
My key point - looking at incarceration rates while ignoring criminality rates is ignoring half the picture. Do you disagree with this point?
Have you been to the hood lately? This is exactly what urban culture is like. Now, there is still a disproportional focus, motivated in no small part by racism, on cracking down on urban crime in particular by American law enforcement.
Just got back from a bicycle trip through "the hood." I didn't experience any hostility or criminality so I'm not sure what you're referring to.
You can "prove" almost anything with made up statistics as well. Which is what Yummyfajita's post is essentially.
Just trying to be fair to both sides.
In my opinion...
you are all on pretty shaky ground with what you are putting forth as "arguments".
Just curious, what do you believe I attempted to prove?
How about just the cinema? Or stay at home altogether and watch television.
In that case, country A has 1.845% of their population in jail, while country B has only 1.05%.
I'm not saying this is the only cause of the US's high incarceration rate, I'm just pointing out that some stats are missing from this discussion.
(Interestingly, 30% of the people in jail in B are falsely accused, while only 15% of the people in jail in A are.)