Data are presented to refute the view that crime in the United States is caused by poverty, chronic unemployment, and other socioeconomic factors. The discussion notes that other myths are that the United States became increasingly punitive during the 1980's, that prisons hold large numbers of petty offenders who should not be there, and that prisons are violent and overcrowded human warehouses that increase recidivism. Further falsehoods are that racial discrimination pervades the criminal justice system, that prisons are prohibitively expensive, that interventions by activist judges have improved prison and jail conditions, that the United States has the most punitive criminal justice system in the world, that alternatives to incarceration are not used enough, and that punishment is bad. 51 reference notes