Where Incarceration Isn’t the Answer Where Incarceration Isn’t the Answer Where Incarceration Isn’t the Answer Frustrations with the U.S. prison system have prompted a global search for alternatives. Yet the solution might not be as simple as “be like Scandinavia.” Winter 2021 Nov 3, 2020 Despite declining incarceration rates in some states, the United States still outpaces the rest of the world when it comes to putting human beings in cages. The U.S. is home to approximately 20% of all prisoners in the world even though it has only 4.4% of the world’s population. A staggering 2.12 million people are in U.S. prisons instead of in the communities they call home.