In a message dated 5/11/00 10:32:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> What would also be interesting (while you've got the stats book out) is,
>  rather than black vs white, you compared poor vs rich.  Do you keep stats
>  like that in the US?

    I have not seen such statistics but America is like all other countries
in that it has a two (multi?) tiered legal system.  I view the various power
structures of this world as being easily divided into those who make policy,
those who implement policy on behave of the "makers, and those who are
policed.  The vast majority of all violent crimes are committed by those who
fall into the category of "the policed." Since the vast majority of us fall
into this category, violent crime remains an immediate concern of ours
regardless of whether the small handful of elite who commit violent crimes
are equally punished or not.

   That said, it would seem quite difficult to determine, without allowing
subjectiveness to enter into the equation, who would be considered rich or
poor.  Would a crack peddler pulling down 5 thousand dollars a week be
categorized as rich?  And there is the question of whether we want to even
hint at the idea that murdering a fellow human being can be rationalized away
by claiming economic disparity.
Yours,
Issodhos