23 July 2013
Thomas Secrest
Arrested Development
Today a got a little curious and starting looking at arrest statistics. They're compiled by the FBI so I can't say that I have full faith and trust in them. However, if the numbers have been fudged, I would guess they are fudged in ways that make my case stronger.
In 2011, which is the most recent year with final statistics, there were 12,400,000 American arrested, or about 4% of the population.
If you think about it, those are some pretty impressive numbers. 12 million is nothing to sneeze it. If you get a calculator and do some math, the number just gets better and better. It works out to just under 34,000 people per day or 1400 people per hour or 24 people per minute.
Since I starting writing this 141 people have been arrested.
This impressive number must make America the arrest capital of the world. Why not, we have earned it by working hard and intentionally writing vaguely worded laws that can be interpreted to mean just about anything. Just in case people don't like being arrested, we even have laws that make doing just about anything, resisting arrest. What's really strange is that resisting arrest can be the only charge. I will leave you to toss that one around within the confines of your head.
148. (a) (1) Every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment, when no other punishment is prescribed, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.Because America has gone certifiably nuts with regard to laws for which one can be arrested, everyone reading this probably commits an arrestable offense every couple of weeks. How is it possible for every citizen to commit an arrestable offense every few weeks? Does it mean we have become a nation of criminals? The answer is NO! We are not a nation of criminals, we are a nation of laws that make us criminals.
You need look no further than YouTube to find case after case where people who were no threat to society (although in more than a few cases they were borderline stupid -- which is not illegal) were arrested because they didn't like being randomly stopped on the road or didn't like they way they were handled by airport security.
I've included a couple for your viewing pleasure, and I will say up front, these people pushed it a little, nonetheless, the police response created, then intensified the problem, which was solve with an arrest. The last one is the most disturbing, if for no other reason than it leaves you to wonder, why the woman (audio only) is heard supporting the action. She's like some demented cheerleader for random arrests.
Now that arrest records are available on the internet, any arrest become very public knowledge. If you combine this with every job application asking about your arrest record (which is grounds for not getting the job) then a single arrest can change a persons life forever. They don't bother to find out if there were charges filed or a conviction, being arrested is all they need to know, all they need to find a reason to hire the other person.
Historically places with arbitrary and high arrest rates turned out to be places you wouldn't want to live. Prewar Germany, the Soviet Union, Iraq, Columbia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Congo, N. Korea, China, Panama, Mexico, is just a partial list of places where being arrested often didn't end well for the arrestee.
Here is the top ten list I promised. Turns out America is number 1.
1.United
States 2. United Kingdom 3. Germany 4. France 5. Russia 6. Japan 7.
South Africa 8. Canada 9. Italy 10. India. - See more at:
http://www.chacha.com/question/which-country-has-the-highest-arrest-rate#sthash.UuTDm3L2.dpuf
- U.S.A.
- U.K.
- Germany
- France
- Russia
- Japan
- South Africa
- Canada
- Italy
- India
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