Most of our discussions of prison populations focus on the one-day count of people in prison. Looking at the types of people we admit can tell a different story, and an important one.
Reform Prosecutors: The Winners and the Losers
As far as I know, there is no single list of not only all the people who have been elected as reform prosecutor, but also of those who have run and lost. Here I provide my first effort at such a list, which currently runs to 128 current, former, and unsuccessful reformers.
Mass Shooters, Mental Illness, and a Critical Statistical Mistake
A study tells us that 70% percent of mass shooters have blue eyes. That might not mean that having blue eyes helpfully predicts mass shooters. There's a big, often overlooked, statistical pitfall so many accounts about mass shooters fall into.
Millions of Uncounted People in Prison (Sort Of)
The not-unreasonable way we define our incarceration rate actually misses hundreds of thousands of people each year who pass through our prisons, which means we've undercounted the impact of prisons by millions over the years.
Welcome
My goals for this blog, and why I hope you'll want to read along.
Prisons, Prosecutors, and the Politics of Punishment 