It depends, some other possible explanations could be that the US justice system is that much more effective or that US inhabitants are that much more disobedient to the same laws than those of other countries. Not saying that's the case, just wouldn't be so quick to dismiss anything. US can indeed be said that are among the most free countries, but that doesn't really say anything without clarifying who we are comparing them with! My impression is that US is one of the least free countries by a relatively small margin when we compare them to most European countries and one of the most free ones, by a relatively large margin, if we consider the state of most African and Asian ones -but I think that if someone is even bothering to seriously make that last comparison, that alone is an indication that something is wrong in the US.
"could be that the US justice system is that much more effective"
If the effectiveness of a justice system is seen in terms of rate of incarceration, then the society that takes that view does not sound particularly as though it believes in freedom as a fundamental value, but rather prefers values like retribution and security through deferment to authority.
"US inhabitants are that much more disobedient to the same laws than those of other countries"
This doesn't hold any water either. For one thing disobedience is an aspect of freedom itself, so that a free society would presumably have a reasonable tolerance to simple disobedience and wouldn't use disobedience in and of itself to justify incarceration and would need to establish harm and public interest. Also, the rate of incarceration in the US is so massively higher than other countries that it becomes patently ridiculous to try and justify it by claiming people in the US are that much less moral than other people and so need locking up more.
I know you don't subscribe to these stances and say that they are just other possible explanations, however I do not think they qualify as possible explanations, as they have some incompatibilities with the general concept of freedom, and the actual situation in the US.
"If the effectiveness of a justice system is seen in terms of rate of incarceration, then the society that takes that view does not sound particularly as though it believes in freedom as a fundamental value, but rather prefers values like retribution and security through deferment to authority."
There are certain behaviors that the society has to be protected from, right? After all, freedom doesn't mean much if i.e. you can be attacked, killed or have your properly stolen without consequences. Incarceration might not be a particular effective method, but how else do you propose such cases should be dealt with?
it becomes patently ridiculous to try and justify it by claiming people in the US are that much less moral than other people
Not saying that people in the US are "less moral", as this could create the wrong impression, still US do appear to have significantly higher rates in homicides and violent crimes. I.e.
"In 2004, there were 5.5 homicides for every 100,000 persons, roughly three times as high as Canada (1.9) and six times as high as Germany (0.9)"
"I know you don't subscribe to these stances and say that they are just other possible explanations
The reason that I am looking for other possible explanations is that I don't feel the massively higher number of incarceration that you are mentioning is reflected by a similarly massive difference in the laws, culture and practices of the US compared to other developed countries. I mean, simply put, what are the things that in the US would get you in jail and they wouldn't in, let's say, the UK? Somehow I don't feel they are that many to justify a massive difference in incarceration numbers.
"I mean, simply put, what are the things that in the US would get you in jail and they wouldn't in, let's say, the UK?"
There is no way in the UK to get a life sentence from a small crime in the way that the three strikes laws do in the US.
In general our jail sentences are much shorter for equivalent crimes in the US and we have nowhere near the rate of incarcerating children either and are much less likely to get the police involved for misbehaving in school.
We are also much less likely to incarcerate for drug possession over here.
There are also crimes that simply do not exist in the UK, such as jaywalking, which got the Oxford historian, Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto, locked up for the evening when he visited Atlanta for a conference. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jan/11/highereducation.ed...
The US also has a habit of handing out sentences far longer than the possible lifespan of the accused even for non-violent offences, such as the 124 years that Hector Monsegur is being threatened with for his role in lulzsec, or the 150 years handed out to Bernie Madoff, which the Judge stated was "to send a symbolic message".
Overall, for the same acts, in the US you are much more likely to be jailed than in the UK and also, even if you would have been jailed in the UK, the length of sentence is far far higher in the US.
