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> The equation is just that, how to solve for the current # of people in prison, therefore it ignores false convictions I don't follow this. If you're falsely

> The equation is just that, how to solve for the current # of people in prison, therefore it ignores false convictions I don't follow this. If you're falsely convicted of murder and get 30 years, why would that show up in the statistics any different than your cell mate who was correctly convicted. > This equation would probably be most accurate if only the most serious sentence were used for "Prison Sentence Length." Not if the lesser crimes affect the total length of your sentence. > people are mostly remanded to jail, not prison, aka custody before trial I think the difference between prison and jail in this case is irrelevant. If you were held in jail awaiting trail for 1 year and acquitted vs. being sentenced to 1 year in prison on conviction, you're still held against your will for 1 year.

djoldman 5y ago
>> The equation is just that, how to solve for the current # of people in prison, therefore it ignores false convictions >I don't follow this. If you're falsely convicted of murder and get 30 years, why would that show up in the statistics any different than your cell mate who was correctly convicted. Falsely convicted people are in prison. The equation is about calculating prison population. The equation is not about calculating the number of people who should be in prison or any other qualifier. That being said, "solve rate" is probably a bad term to use here. It might be more accurate to say something like, "percentage of cases resulting in a charge/indictment" >> This equation would probably be most accurate if only the most serious sentence were used for "Prison Sentence Length." >Not if the lesser crimes affect the total length of your sentence. In the vast majority of criminal cases, the following is true: conviction of 1 count of murder and 100 counts of other crimes (with a lower guideline sentence) results in a sentence equal to the sentence of the most serious crime in the case: murder. It is irrelevant what the other crimes are as the sentences for those crimes will be served concurrently to the murder sentence, which is longer/more serious. So in the vast majority of cases there will be no effect on the total length of the sentence to be convicted of multiple crimes, only the longest/most serious sentence matters. >I think the difference between prison and jail in this case is irrelevant. If you were held in jail awaiting trail for 1 year and acquitted vs. being sentenced to 1 year in prison on conviction, you're still held against your will for 1 year. The article quote is: Well, roughly speaking, the __prison__ population for a given crime is: Occurrence Per Year x Report Rate x Solve Rate x Conviction Rate x Prison Sentence Length. My take is that there is nothing more claimed/represented/intended than what is written in the above quote, which means that talk about "jail" is irrelevant to an equation about "prison." I'm not sure if there's anything more to say about that.

djoldman 5y ago

>> The equation is just that, how to solve for the current # of people in prison, therefore it ignores false convictions >I don't follow this. If you're falsely convicted of murder and get 30 years, why would that show up in the statistics any different than your cell mate who was correctly convicted. Falsely convicted people are in prison. The equation is about calculating prison population. The equation is not about calculating the number of people who should be in prison or any other qualifier. That being said, "solve rate" is probably a bad term to use here. It might be more accurate to say something like, "percentage of cases resulting in a charge/indictment" >> This equation would probably be most accurate if only the most serious sentence were used for "Prison Sentence Length." >Not if the lesser crimes affect the total length of your sentence. In the vast majority of criminal cases, the following is true: conviction of 1 count of murder and 100 counts of other crimes (with a lower guideline sentence) results in a sentence equal to the sentence of the most serious crime in the case: murder. It is irrelevant what the other crimes are as the sentences for those crimes will be served concurrently to the murder sentence, which is longer/more serious. So in the vast majority of cases there will be no effect on the total length of the sentence to be convicted of multiple crimes, only the longest/most serious sentence matters. >I think the difference between prison and jail in this case is irrelevant. If you were held in jail awaiting trail for 1 year and acquitted vs. being sentenced to 1 year in prison on conviction, you're still held against your will for 1 year. The article quote is: Well, roughly speaking, the __prison__ population for a given crime is: Occurrence Per Year x Report Rate x Solve Rate x Conviction Rate x Prison Sentence Length. My take is that there is nothing more claimed/represented/intended than what is written in the above quote, which means that talk about "jail" is irrelevant to an equation about "prison." I'm not sure if there's anything more to say about that.