4 ms·
Big props to you for digging into the raw stats. To get estimates for prision population percentages you'll need to adjust the convictions for each category by
by danielvf 10y ago
Big props to you for digging into the raw stats.
To get estimates for prision population percentages you'll need to adjust the convictions for each category by the average number of years served for that crime category. As you said, homicides make up a tiny fraction of crimes and yet a double digit percentage of state prisoners are serving time for homicide.
- Joof 10y agoFair enough; homicides are indeed ~12% of the state prison population. I can't do it now, but I'm still very curious. There are dozens of other factors that could go into it as well; if one race has a higher average sentencing time or serving time; that would bring up more questions.
- danielvf 10y agoYes, different sentencing would make an effect, though obviously you would need to control somehow for prior convictions and the probability of re-offending, which sounds difficult. You'd also need to compare inside a state, since states can have quite different sentencing laws. For example, in California the sexual assault of an unconscious person has either a one year or two year max sentence. Whereas in South Carolina it has ten year max sentence.