(no subject)

Learned a new word today in Torts: flumsy. As in, "her legal argument was rather flumsy." What does it mean? Both flimsy and clumsy.


Had a guest come in and explain Conditional Sentencing to our Crim class. She started off her presentation by saying, "First of all I`m going to barrage you with alarming statistics from the US. This is to explain the frame of mind of Canadian legislators when they set about enacting the 1996 sentencing reform laws."

Then she began. Here`s a sample of what I was able to jot down.

• The US has the highest rate of incarceration per population in the industrialized world: 700 persons per 100,000 (all stats are per 100,000).
  
  
• Russia is second, with 665. Canada is at 115, down from 136 10 years ago. 3/5 of countries have less than 150.
  
  
• There are 2 million people in prison, 4.5M on parole, 2M employed by the criminal justice system, on any given day.
  
  
• This is a relatively new phenomenon. From 1900-1970, the US`s average rate of incarceration was 110.
  
  
• Since then, incarceration has increased by 47% while crime has decreased by 22%. (In that same time period, crime has decreased similarly in all of the industrialized world - most academics view this as caused by changes in demographics, not "get tough" regimes.)(Incidentally, I would love to get my hands on the actual numbers, since they don`t seem to add up - how does 110 => 700 equal to a 47% increase? Wish I hadn`t failed stats.)
  
  
• The two biggest contributors to the higher rates are mandatory sentencing laws (eg Three Strikes, You`re Out) and the War on Drugs.
  
  
• In 1980, the incarceration rate for drug crimes was 15 per 100,000 - in 1996, 148.
  
  
• In 1992, 11% of people serving time for drugs were major drug dealers. The rest were in for possession or minor drug dealing (eg. 5g of crack cocaine = 5 year sentence.)
  
  
• Approximately 13% of drug users in in the US are black.
  
  
• Blacks account for 35% of those arrested on drug offences, 55% of those convicted, and 74% of those incarcerated.
  
  
• Blacks have 14 times the rate of incarceration of whites.
  
  
• In Louisiana, between 1986-1996 the incarceration rates for drug crimes for blacks rose by 10,000%.
  
  
• A black male born in 1991 stands a 29% chance of incarceration, as compared to a white male - 4%.
  
  

There are lifetime consequences for incarceration. For example:

• 1996 welfare reforms placed a lifetime ban on welfare for convicted felons.
  
  
• 48 States disenfranchise felons for the duration of their incarceration; 32 while they are on parole; 8 for life.
  
  
• In Illinois, ex-felons are banned from 57 different professions (includes barbers and manicurists, among others.)
  
  
• In 1997, 25% of persons with AIDS/HIV had come out of prison that year.
  
  

This was meant to set the tone for why, in 1996, the Canadian government set out sentencing reforms that basically stated explicitly that incarceration is to be seen as the weapon of last resort in the fight against crime. Suitable only for violent, habitual offenders for whom no other alternative is available.

I know you should never take stats at face value and there`s another side to just about every stat out there, but... it sure convinced me.