A team of researchers at Iowa State University has just published a paper that estimates the cost to society of several violent crimes. Led by Matt DeLisi, an associate professor of sociology and director of the criminal justice program, the team came up with the following numbers: Crime Social Cost2008 US$ Murder 17,252,656 Rape 448,532 Armed robbery 335,733 … [Read more...] about The Cost of Murder
They Should Have Rung the Bell
Here's yet another tragic story of an elderly couple terrorized by gangs of local thugs in Chicago.With her husband already asleep, 84-year-old Anna Jakymek was just turning out the lights when she heard loud noises at the back and front doors about 11:30 p.m.Her initial thought was that her 89-year old husband had fallen out of bed, but she realized something else was … [Read more...] about They Should Have Rung the Bell
More About That Graphic Sin
A couple of days ago, I posted about this silly graph, which shows the wage gap between men and women: The dotted gray line on the graph at first seems to show that "Women's Wages as a Percentage of Men's Wages" are dropping, but that turns out to be because the dotted gray line is plotted against the right-hand scale, which is printed upside down, with the larger … [Read more...] about More About That Graphic Sin
The War On Drugs Get Even More Ridiculous
Ladies and Gentlemen, our nation's insane War On Drugs may have reached some sort of apotheosis with this story: Two Philadelphia police officers have been charged with criminal conspiracy, robbery, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, theft, and other related charges, according to officials. Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23, allegedly robbed a … [Read more...] about The War On Drugs Get Even More Ridiculous
Pledge Allegiance or Go to Jail
I've always been a bit wary of extremely overt flag-waving patriots. Maybe it's just a reaction I have after watching the hoards of people forced to wave Soviet flags while at gunpoint, or the coerced crowds joining in the celebrations of Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution by furiously whipping little Chinese flags to and fro.Some of those people … [Read more...] about Pledge Allegiance or Go to Jail