[lbo-talk] Marx without quotation marks

[Politicus E.]

Cox asked "What evidence do you have that the level of violence is
significantly greater now than (say) 70 years ago? Not anecdotal evidence
from headlines but hard data. This is an empirical question regarding
comparison of distinct periods of time. I doubt very much myself that
violence has increased in any significant way."  Since I enjoy data
analysis, and searching for data, I decided to attempt to give a provisional
answer.

(a) Approximately 163 persons per 100,000 of the resident population were
imprisoned in 1990;  approximately 256 persons per 100,000 of the resident
population were imprisoned in 2006 (Statistical Abstract of the United
States 2009);
(b) There were exactly 139 prisoners under federal or state jurisdiction per
100,000 residents in 1980 (this includes those on parole);  there were
exactly 501 such prisoners per 100,000 residents in 2006 (Statistical
Abstract of the United States 2009);
(c) Exactly 185 prisoners were executed, on the average, by a civil
authority in the period 1930-9;  exactly 23 prisoners were executed by a
civil authority in 1990;  exactly 98 prisoners were executed by a civil
authority in 1999;  exactly 42 prisoners were executed by a civil authority
in 2007 (Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009);

What might be be useful to know is total expenditure per capita, in real
terms, on goods & services related to control, punishment, surveillance,
etc., in aggregated form.

epoliticus