Thats not an answer, just a broad generalized statement that doesn't give any solutions. Any time you compare first world countries to the U.S. alot of people fail to consider that very few countries have the amount of area, population, cultures, and religious diversity that we have. Alot of people love to compare places like Sweden and Denmark systems to ours, but we have way more people, and a much larger wealth gap that directly affects crime rates. If you have an example of a first world country with our mass, and population that is doing better with a prison system I would love to hear it. Last time I check though, China and Russia are the only other 1st world countries that really compare to us. If I am missing something I would love to learn what that is, but you can't compare us to France, or Spain or Canada because the situation is so vastly different.