[lbo-talk] Marx without quotation marks

[Percival Myers]

On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 8:36 PM, Politicus E. wrote:
> 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);

That's nice, now we know how many were imprisoned. We still don't have
any evidence of increased violence. Is possession of cannabis a newly
minted violent crime? We need to know the breakdown for violent crimes
vs drugs/related and other non-violent crimes.

Percy