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By Herring (Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 10:26:53 AM EST) (all tags)

Categorized into expected stuff and with a slightly serious poll.

Standard Small Boy bit
Took him cycling for the 2nd time on the bike that's actually his size. I took my bike this time (even when my knees and back aren't knackered, I cannot sustain 9mph on foot for any distance) - which forced him into unassisted starts. These are OK except uphill. We soon ran into a slight downhill where my speedo was saying 12mph and when another cyclist came the other way, he went into a terminal speed-wobble. He got off fairly lightly on that and was straight back on.

Also improving at the cricket club. He joined late in the season so the others are bound to be ahead of him. The improvements are noticeable though.

The Work bit
Got called aside by the development manager on Friday afternoon. The gist was "the rollout of your thing has been far better than anyone anticipated, have some money". Which was nice.

I feel slightly guilty because I am just updating my CV to send off for a job which is nearer and pays an awful lot more money. I understand all this stuff about "looking after #1" etc. but I can't help that this attitude is partly responsible for the state of the world. Anyway, it's another £20K a year, so bollocks to them.

USian bashing bit
I read in a story linked to from another bog that, although China is an evil repressive regime and it has almost four times the population of the US, the US has more people in prison. Not more-per-head-of-population, more in absolute numbers (roughly 2 million versus 1.5 million).

In the same article, they pointed out that California spends more on their prison service than on education.

Other bit
I really should get on with my CV.

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Weekend things | 35 comments (35 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

More per head by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #1 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:11:24 AM EST

The chinese just shoot their excess prison population.

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL

Sorry to invoke numbers by Herring (4.00 / 2) #3 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:19:00 AM EST

but although the Chinese do execute a comparatively high number of people, it's not statistically significant.

Unless they are lying. A lot.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

You could be right by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #5 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:28:07 AM EST

I always find shooting people limits offending rates, don't you?

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

Yes by Herring (2.00 / 0) #12 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:55:23 PM EST

That is why there is such a low rate of offending in Washington.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

: Note by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #15 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 02:53:11 PM EST

I don't think Washington DC (the disctrict) has the death penalty.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}
[ Parent ]

Numbers seem to agree by wumpus (2.00 / 0) #13 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 02:23:46 PM EST

US jailed: 2,267,787 (no figures for China, but hiding a couple million people is not easy).

Chinese executions: 3,400 (something like 90% of all executions worldwide).
US executions: 59 (fourth place, but Texas, Virginia, and Florida are trying harder.)

About the only way that execution could make a diference is if US convicts routinely did a few centuries of hard time.

Wumpus

[ Parent ]

question.. by LinDze (2.00 / 0) #18 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 07:06:00 PM EST

what countries and criteria are used for these executions numbers? Cause Im pretty sure a whole lot more mother fuckers than that get just "disappeared" in south america and south east asia. So, basically, do death squads count? Or only "legal" executions?

-Lin Dze
Arbeit Macht Frei
[ Parent ]

usually the number of "disappeared" by wumpus (2.00 / 0) #22 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 09:31:47 PM EST

is wildly overinflated. Once the party (or whoever becomes the power that is) controls all widespread sources of information, anybody you haven't seen for awhile is assumed to be "ethnically cleansed", "in gitmo", or otherwise treated most foul.

Not to say that less professional regimes don't come to power, but an effective terror campaign doesn't actually murder that many people (even the Nazi's started the Holocaust pretty late, and did most of the killing in 1944-45).

Wumpus
PS. I'm not saying such regimes aren't profoundly evil, just that you shouldn't assume they are always doing what they want you to think they are doing.

[ Parent ]

: Pol Pot by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #24 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 10:05:34 PM EST

--

[ Parent ]

Question is by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #2 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:15:11 AM EST

does it work or doesn't it? I thought NY crime rates nowadays were much lower due to being "Tough on Crime", but against that the US seems to rank pretty high in the crime/ murder per 100,000 stakes.

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL

Oddly enough by wumpus (2.00 / 0) #23 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 09:38:57 PM EST

NYC being "tough on crime" reduced the amount of convicts in jail. What happened is that the police, DAs, etc. were told to enforce pretty much all of the laws on the books (up to spitting on the side walk, but not including the ones about waving a flag in front of a car to warn the horses). Since they were spending more time on misdemeanor offences, many more convictions got fines, probation, and lots less jail time than armed robbery, cocaine distribution, murder one, etc. Significantly reduced sentences (for significantly reduced crimes): less convicts in jail.

Note that in the US, the prison industry (which runs as well as builds prisons) doesn't want anybody else to try this.

Wumpus

[ Parent ]

IIRC, not only did it cut the crime rate and... by ObviousTroll (2.00 / 0) #31 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 08:16:02 AM EST

cause prison overcrowding - prison populations have started going down again as offenders complete their sentences and fewer people (lower crime rate, remember) are being incarcerated.

The big question is: will the people who are getting out return to their old ways or not?

However - you should keep in mind that there's an alternate explanation for the falling crime rate: Crimes are almost entirely committed by the young, and the US population is graying.

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.
[ Parent ]

: Update - apparently I'm not quite right about by ObviousTroll (2.00 / 0) #33 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 08:33:12 AM EST

the decline in prison population. Apparently it's falling in some states, but it's going up in others even faster.

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.
[ Parent ]

Prison thing by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #4 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:21:15 AM EST

It's mostly due to our insane drug laws.
----
_{ウセーバラケダ}

: Indeed. by Breaker (2.00 / 0) #6 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 11:56:06 AM EST

SOAD

[ Parent ]
: I would split that by Herring (2.00 / 0) #8 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:04:50 PM EST

between option 4 and 5.
Maybe those who use drugs occaisionally and harm no-one should be left alone. Maybe those who have an addiction problem should be treated. There willbe those who will shout "but drugs cause so much crime". Well, at least in the UK, I would've thought that alcohol is behind more crimes than illegal drugs.
One of the reasons I brought up the poll is that UKia seems to be heading in the same direction - in the sense of large private companies running prisons, hugely swelling prison population etc.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]
: Untrue. by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #32 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 08:27:51 AM EST

Apparently, the vast majority of prison inmates are violent offenders.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/corrtyp.htm
Interestingly, these charts disagree with what I thought I knew - that prison populations were starting to fall:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/corr2.htm

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.
[ Parent ]

Politics and Economics by BadDoggie (2.00 / 0) #7 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:01:55 PM EST

Each person incarcerated is one more person out of the unemployment figures. <p The majority of the stupid lock-ups come from the "War on Drugs" and "Zero-tolerance" crap which ties judges' hands and forces them not only to sent the convicted to jail but also for frightfully unreasonable lengths of time. Any politician who dares mention the stupidity of the knee-jerk system much less tries to change it is immediately castigated and his opponent has a field day screaming "soft on crime".

woof.

OMG WE'RE FUCKED! -- duxup ?

Economics by Herring (2.00 / 0) #9 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:08:34 PM EST

There are various estimates I've heard about how much it costs to keep a person in prison in the UK. I've heard between £30K and £45K. Now, it would make economic sense to, rather than imprison some toerag, offer then £25K tax-free if they can go a year without commiting a crime.

I can't see the tabloid newspapers buying that one.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

Tabloids by BadDoggie (4.00 / 1) #10 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:14:43 PM EST

It's the tabloids and other sensationalist media causing most of this, stirring up public fear about all them horrible criminals who should be locked away for life. Isn't the safety of your children worth $40K?! Money is too damned abstract unless they start bitching about the costs of lengthy appeals processes which, in the US, have resulted in astonishing miscarriages of justice.

The flaw in your plan is that it would motivate anyone earning less than £25K net to commit a jailable offense every 13 months.

woof.

OMG WE'RE FUCKED! -- duxup ?
[ Parent ]

Abso-fucking-lutely by Herring (4.00 / 1) #11 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 12:23:03 PM EST

I tried to explain to someone once about the newspapers: News is something that doesn't happen all the time. If you see child abductions/murders in the news, then that's actually because they are very rare. You don't see "man breaks speed limit" in the newspapers.

People only get to know about the extraordinary/extreme cases. Then the tabloids whip up a "something must be done" campaign and before you know it, a judge is forced to give 10 years for Wearing s Loud Shirt in a Built Up Area.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

: +1, NTNON reference by komet (2.00 / 0) #14 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 02:43:09 PM EST

--
<ni> komet: You are functionally illiterate as regards trashy erotica.
[ Parent ]

It's because we're a bunch of hard motherfuckers. by Horatio Hellpop (4.00 / 1) #16 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 03:08:27 PM EST

A point you lot would do well to remember, especially whilst on holiday in Florida.

"You can't really know something until you ruin it for everyone." -some guy who used to have an account here

People still vacation by blixco (4.00 / 1) #17 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 06:06:12 PM EST

in Florida?

I thought we'd killed all a them.
---------------------------------
"You bring the weasel, I'll bring the whiskey." - kellnerin
[ Parent ]

: The bulk of it is over by MohammedNiyalSayeed (4.00 / 2) #19 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 07:14:38 PM EST

The Shark Death Squads have been relegated to cleaning up the scraps.

-
You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
[ Parent ]

Dude, we're the *most violent nation on Earth* by MohammedNiyalSayeed (4.00 / 2) #20 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 07:17:32 PM EST

We busted our collective asses to get where we our, why you gotta hate on the playa for masterin' his game? We're like a drunken, out of control action movie that no one can stop!

Also, another difference may be the lack of anything but poor people in China. If you keep the entire population impoverished, it makes it easier to beat them into submission, and if you beat them enough, they act up less. Everyone in the Third World Government business knows that.

-
You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.

"our": by MohammedNiyalSayeed (2.00 / 0) #21 Sun Aug 19, 2007 at 07:19:16 PM EST

That's the British spelling of "are", right? Love, a product of the fine American Education System.

-
You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
[ Parent ]

Dude, your ignorance is showing . . . by slozo (4.00 / 1) #25 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 03:52:04 AM EST

. . . didn't you read any of my diaries from the PRC? Pictures of modern cities, filled with modern looking people? People with NO GUNS?

Yes, the Chinese have no guns, and even most cops don't either. Once the US takes away everyone's weapon, maybe it can be a more solid, upstanding dictatorship, just like China . . .

[ Parent ]

: True, but everyone there has Kung Fu by Horatio Hellpop (4.00 / 1) #35 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 01:46:09 PM EST

so there's a balance of power, of sorts.
"You can't really know something until you ruin it for everyone." -some guy who used to have an account here
[ Parent ]

US prisons by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #26 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 04:50:30 AM EST

Worst thing is how violent they are. No-one really cares what happens to you once you're locked up and they're run by gangs. It's like having assault and rape as part of your sentence.

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!

: I know how to clean up US prisons by Herring (4.00 / 1) #30 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 06:12:11 AM EST

Put cameras in and broadcast the results on network TV.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

WIPO: because they get caught by herbert (2.00 / 0) #27 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 05:23:18 AM EST

Solution: take first-offenders and train them to commit crimes better so they aren't caught again.

Re. your solution by Herring (2.00 / 0) #28 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 05:25:45 AM EST

I thought that's what prison did.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge - Charles Darwin
[ Parent ]

: naw by Merekat (4.00 / 1) #29 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 05:41:44 AM EST

They're being trained by people who were caught. Obviously 2nd grade, unless you go by the axiom those who can, do...

[ Parent ]

US Prison Rates by jimgon (4.00 / 1) #34 Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 08:53:12 AM EST

It's not just summing things up as "War on Drugs" or "Get Tough". I think ultimately the biggest reason for our large prison rates is simply that for a "Christian" nation we don't actually understand any of the supposed principles of Christianity. Turn the other cheek? Charity? Forgiveness? Where it comes to this most supposed "Christians" running this country aren't even close to their purported beliefs. They are vindictive, greedy, prideful and intolerant. The Fundamentalist who seem to run most of the country care only about the worst parts of the Old Testament taken out of context of the rest of the book or even Chapter from which they quote.

So my point is that Americans have such a high prison population because Americans aren't interested in forgiveness or reformation. They're interested in punishment and vindictiveness. Throw in thirty years of advertisements and propoganda based on fear and you have a society that doesn't place value on it's fellow Humanity.

Weekend things | 35 comments (35 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback