The map above is taken from an article on brilliantmaps.com
and was created by @theWorldMaps, an anonymous individual who posts cartographic
content on social media. This individual
appears to be an experienced cartographer, making captivating maps that rival
those published on news sites and articles.
On their map of prison population per 100,000 people, the skillfull
execution of the text demonstrates this best.
The map’s title, legend, and text size are all appropriate. The author and the source are listed at a
standard location at the bottom. The
same caliber of clarity is also seen on the chart that lists the most
incarcerated countries and the least.
Data found
on the map appears to be from a reputable source: World Prison Brief
(2021). The writer on brilliantmaps.com
chose to publish the data along with the map, making it convenient for their
readers. The data is quantiative and
only measures one variable, which keeps the map simple and easy to understand. One thing I would have added to the map as a
cartographer is a link to the data, since it is published online. When counting prison population, each country
is coming up with their own figures, so one possible limitation to the data is
the reliability of what each country is reporting. There is no way for a cartographer or a
reader to verify the prison population of other countries other than relying on
their word.
It’s hard to
see an ecological fallacy on this map. One
thing I’d address is the issue of seeing random countries on the map with their
prison data and flags. It lends these
countries a false sense of importance in relation to the map. For instance, there is no obvious connection
between Canada, Costa Rica, India, and Cameroon- all of which have labels and
flags- so why is their data singled out?
It seems the cartographer was only doing this for effect. But by doing so they made the prison
populations of these countries seem more important than others, especially
since the leading figures aren’t involved.
(Thailand has the biggest number on the map, 411, yet we can see from
the chart that many countries exceed this.)
It would have made more sense to label the largest countries or the most
populous; the ones that always draw our attention on a world map, like the
U.S.A., China, Russia, and Brazil. They
also could have chosen to label no countries at all and it still would have had
compelling information, along with giving the map more consistency.
Another
fallacy the reader may commit is that the U.S. justice system is bloated (by
being #1), or that Latin American countries have more criminals, both which
seem like oversimplifications. It would
be interesting to see a map like this broken down by the type of
prisoner, i.e. felons, murderers, drug abusers, etc.; that may serve to show
that certain countries are more strict about certain types of crimes and
therefore have more prisoners. Though it
would be very difficult to find reliable information on this, throwing someone
in prison for writing bad things about a government or possessing marijuana is
a far cry from theft and murder. Another
possible fallacy is that the darker countries treat their citizens worse, which
the lone comment on the article demonstrates.
Complementary data that would offset this perception is the addition of the
human rights index for each country.
The color
scheme chosen does well to bring the map into focus. Darker countries are ones we’d expect to have
more prisoners- lighter ones we’d expect to have less. Red is a good intermediate color between
purple and yellow. Though the map will
work for a color blind audiece, it does not appear to work for photocopying,
LCDs, and printing (colorbrewing 2.0).
The text color in the title, particularly on the word “prisoners”, also
works well to bring the map into focus.
Choosing the same color that matches a heavily populated country (purple)
of prisoners is a nice touch that I may consider in my future cartography
studies. One thing I would eliminate on
the map are the flags, since they take the focus away from the map’s theme, and
also take up unnecessary space.
As an
American, the strongest message I gather from the map is that we are spending
an unnecessary amount of tax dollars on our prison population. Instead of sustaining prisoners, we could be spending
the money on rehabilitation and psychological improvement, leading to reduced
sentences. Europe doesn’t seem to have
this problem, so the idea could be to compare our system with some of theirs to
see what is happening, whether it’s at the state or regional level. My hunch is that institutional racism plays a
heavy role in our inflated prison numbers, something Europe isn’t as plagued
with.
Furthermore, and
perhaps more surprisingly, it doesn’t appear that authoritarian regimes have a
higher ratio of prisoners than democratic regimes. This could mean that justice systems are
stronger in democracies, or that the prisoner population in places like China are
under-reported. A fascinating addition
to this map would be the type of government hosting the prisoner population and
the conclusion such an analysis would suggest.
Another addition to this map could be an index for racism in each
country. Democracies scoring high on such
an index may show higher prison rates, lending support to the idea that
institutional racism translates to more prisoners.
Sources:
Brilliantmaps.com. 2023, March 28. Number of Prisoners Per 100,000 People Around the World. https://brilliantmaps.com/number-of-prisoners-per-100000-people-around-the-world/#more-4628
Color Brewer 2.0. https://colorbrewer2.org/#type=sequential&scheme=YlOrBr&n=7
