> so why do americans have more high speed chases?

Off the top of my head: 1) US cops are more likely to harass, maim, kill you than most other places (whether you've crimed or not); 2) US legal system seems a little hinky when it comes to certain people; 3) "three strikes" (not sure if that's countrywide or state-level? pretty sure it's still around tho'?) can mean life for three trivial crimes; 4) car-centric country - lots of them and everywhere is designed for cars[0].

[0] Imagine a car chase around London[1] or some other wackily streeted city.

[1] No, the godawful nonsense Hollywood comes up with does not count.

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Rebelgecko 8 hours ago | parent [-]

California's 3 strikes law only applies to "serious" felonies. The list is pretty reasonable IMO. No one is getting life in prison for littering or insurance fraud

It's basically a list of violent crimes, the only one that seems out of pocket is selling PCP, meth, or cocaine to childre, which is bad but could arguably be less bad than the others on the list

	▲	aerostable_slug 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Raping an unconscious person is not on the list of violent felonies. Neither is domestic violence with traumatic injury, assault with a deadly weapon, or felony battery with serious bodily injury. It takes a lot to earn strikes in California.
	▲	zimpenfish 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> California's 3 strikes law only applies to "serious" felonies. But not all states are California. > No one is getting life in prison for littering or insurance fraud William James Rummel begs to differ[0] - fraudulent use of a credit card ($80), forged check ($28.36), failure to return payment for non-performed work ($120.75) and voila, life sentence (albeit later reduced to time served on procedural grounds.) [0] also references "Graham v. West Virginia, a 1912 case which involved an individual convicted of three separate counts of horse thievery total[l]ing $235" which ended up in a life sentence. In summary, some states may have sensible 3 strike laws, some may not. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummel_v._Estelle