I'm not sure that's really true. Here's the homicide rate in various western countries: http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5463783b6da811d8298.... Our current prison industrial complex was designed in the 1980's and 1990's, at a time when our murder rate was 5x higher per capita than in our peer countries.
Chicago, which features prominently in the news, has over 4x as many murders as London, despite the latter being a much larger city. You're much more likely to be murdered in Chicago than to die in a traffic accident,[1] while the opposite is true in most of the western world.
[1] Interestingly, you're also about 3x more likely to die in a traffic accident in the U.S. than in the U.K.
Chicago, which features prominently in the news, has over 4x as many murders as London, despite the latter being a much larger city. You're much more likely to be murdered in Chicago than to die in a traffic accident,[1] while the opposite is true in most of the western world.
[1] Interestingly, you're also about 3x more likely to die in a traffic accident in the U.S. than in the U.K.