Crime rate Drops.............Again

WASHINGTON — The FBI said Monday that violent crime reported to police in 2009 declined for the third straight year.

The 5.3 percent drop in violent crime was accompanied by a 4.6 percent drop in property crime, marking the seventh consecutive year that nonviolent crime has dropped.

Each of the violent crime categories decreased from 2008, as did each of the property crime categories.

Murder fell by 7.3 percent, robbery by 8 percent, aggravated assault by 4.2 percent and rape by 2.6 percent.

Motor vehicle theft was down by 17.1 percent, larceny by 4 percent and burglary by 1.3 percent.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/...QD9I73HG00

The Lockup Factor
In his book Why Crime Rates Fell, Tufts University sociologist John Conklin concluded that up to half of the improvement was due to a single factor: more people in prison. The U.S. prison population grew by more than half a million during the 1990s and continued to grow, although more slowly, in the next decade. Go back half a century: as sentencing became more lenient in the 1960s and '70s, the crime rate started to rise. When lawmakers responded to the crime wave by building prisons and mandating tough sentences, the number of prisoners increased and the number of crimes fell.

Are we getting value for money?

Elmer certainly likes to complain about the wages that are paid to all those prison staff here in CA.

I'd like to know the stats on incarceration, but my immediate thought is that the US has so many people in prison that the people not in prison are less likely to commit crimes.

EDIT: I just googled my thesis here and found an interesting article that offers an agreement: http://www.time.com/time/magazine...-1,00.html



And the number of those incarcerated is given in wikipedia; I'd like to see a graph of incarceration rate v. crime rate:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikip...-clean.svg

The Obama White House has taken the first steps in decades to move away from a strict lock-�em-up mentality on crime � easing sentences for crack cocaine possession, launching a top-to-bottom review of sentencing policies and even sounding open to reviewing guidelines that call for lengthy prison terms for people convicted of child pornography offenses.

Some lawyers contend that defendants who briefly exchanged child porn photos or video online can actually spend more time behind bars than defendants who sought to molest children.

Are we getting value for money?

Elmer certainly likes to complain about the wages that are paid to all those prison staff here in CA.

He's also happy about the three strike law keeping repeat offenders off the street.

He's not having his cake and eating it too. You can have prisons, but complain if prison staff are part of the problem bankrupting the state.

Spoken like a true California state employee.....

.

Are Americans becoming less violent and more honest? Are police departments doing a better job? Did the increase in gun ownership, and in those legally carrying guns, cause some potential criminals to think twice? Did years of mandatory sentencing and 3 strike laws, end up incarcerating many of the small number of criminals that commit a large percentage of crime?

Thoughts?

because you know, we really need to give the child pornographers a break. They're just misunderstood folks who have an innocent desire to watch little kids get raped.

“The time is ripe for evaluating the current guidelines and considering whether reforms are warranted,”

You're about to get an opportunity to double check your thesis. The Obama White House is looking for ways to get people out of jail sooner than later.

http://www.politico.com/news/stor...42004.html

because you know, we really need to give the child pornographers a break. They're just misunderstood folks who have an innocent desire to watch little kids get raped.


So rather than reviewing the guidelines to give those who seek to molest children more jail time, they instead seek to reduce jail time for child pornographers. Nice.

I know one person who approves.

Some lawyers contend that defendants who briefly exchanged child porn photos or video online can actually spend more time behind bars than defendants who sought to molest children.

Quoted your own post so you can read it again (also emphasized a keyword)



So if you happen to buy a used phone and it happens to contain a teenager old sexting photos, you could spend more time in jail then an actual child molester..

Or having naked photos of your child in the bath, could land you in jail longer then a person who molests a child.

Did Obama say he wants to give child pornographers a break, or did he just say he wants to review all mandatory sentencing guidelines? Stop blowing things out of proportion, please. You could give some info to backup your claims...

The Obama White House has taken the first steps in decades to move away from a strict lock-‘em-up mentality on crime — easing sentences for crack cocaine possession, launching a top-to-bottom review of sentencing policies and even sounding open to reviewing guidelines that call for lengthy prison terms for people convicted of child pornography offenses.

Then you should have read my post a lot closer. I didn't say the two acts deserved to be on the same level. I said that they're reviewing the wrong sentencing guidelines. They need to make the sentencing guidelines even higher for those who attempt to molest a child, not lower the ones for pornographers.

Your two examples are not that good. I'm sure you know that you're stretching it. Having a picture of your kid in the bathtub isn't going to land you in jail unless there's very extenuating circumstances behind it.

Johnny Fernandez simply wanted to keep memories of the childhood of her children when Jacqueline went to Eckerd Drugs to develop photos that she took of her children in a bath. The good people at Exkerd Drugs in Richardson, Texas saw not frolicking kids but child porn and called the cops. Later, after searching their home, police and child welfare officials found a picture of Jacqueline breast feeding one the children. That was it: Texas prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment against the parents for �sexual performance of a child,� a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison

Donna Dull, 59, of Pennsylvania was criminally charged for developing pictures of her 2-year-old getting out of the bath has been the subject of national criticism and a lawsuit against the prosecutors. However, officials added to the controversy by appearing to defend the decision to charge the grandmother despite the fact that the charges were later dropped.

Three teenagers in Lacey, Washington could be labeled sex offenders for life.

The girl in the nude picture told investigators she took the photo of herself and sent it to her boyfriend.

When they broke up, he allegedly texted the photo to other students.

In Pennsylvania, three girls who sent nude or partially nude pictures of themselves to three boys in their school now face felony charges of distributing child pornography. A Texas eighth grader was jailed for sending a nude picture of himself to another student. In Virginia, two boys (ages 15 and 18) have been charged with solicitation and possession of child pornography with intent to distribute after law enforcement learned the teens sought nude pictures from three juveniles, one in elementary school. According to a report issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, of the 2100 children who were identified as victims of online porn, 1 in 4 initially sent the images to themselves. Some did it for fun, and others were tricked by adults they met online.

In another case in Pennsylvania, a 15-year old girl has been charged for sending nude pictures of herself over the Internet to a 27 year old she met online. The intent was not to jail her, but to help her get counseling and other help she needs, according to the District Attorney handling the case. He added the 27 year old has been sentenced to 10 years for having sex with the juvenile. In Ohio, 8 teens have been arrested for trading nude pictures of themselves with others. One of the girl's fathers found the images and reported authorities.