Thursday, May 25, 2006

Nothing but the facts

Percent increase in crime that was reported on network TV news from 1990 to 1998: 83
Percent decrease in actual crime in the U.S. from 1990 to 1998: 20

Number of people in the U.S. Army on the eve of World War II: 186,000
Number of people in today’s U.S. regular Army: 480,000
Percent of active-duty U.S. military who are non-white: 37.5
Percent of Americans who are non-white: 22.9
Number of non-U.S. citizens serving in the active-duty U.S. military: 38,000

Rank of Washington, D.C. among U.S. highest incarceration rates: 1
Rank of Washington, D.C. among U.S. highest education spending per capita: 51
Rank of Minnesota among U.S. highest education spending per capita: 1
Rank of Minnesota among U.S. highest incarceration rates: 51

Percent increase in per capita higher education spending from all states’ general tax revenues from 1980 to 2000: 32
Percent increase in prison spending: 189
Percent increase in per capita higher education spending in Minnesota from 1980 to 2000: 131
Percent increase in prison spending: 128
Percent increase in per capita higher education spending in Texas from 1980 to 2000: 37
Percent increase in prison spending: 401

Length of the jail sentence Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia received for refusing to return to fight in Iraq: 1 year
Length of the jail sentence Specialist Armin J. Cruz received for abusing Abu Ghraib inmates: 8 months

The statistics on spending for education and prison are particularly interesting/troubling to me, but all of these statistics have a pretty strong message to me. What do these statistics say to you???

2 comments:

Jeremy Gregg said...

These stats tell me that you've been spending a LOT of time reading Harper's Index! :)

Janet Morrison-Lane said...

Actually, no...is that something I *should* be reading??? Click on the title of this blog (it's a link to the magazine). It's a new magazine I learned about called "Yes!" I haven't read through it yet, but some of the articles look pretty interesting.