Friday, June 11, 2010

Huge Gender Disparities: Prisoners and Deaths


In 2006, 93.1% of U.S. prisoners were male vs. 6.9% female (data here), meaning that there were 1,350 men in prison for every 100 women (see chart above).  Interestingly, that is almost exactly the same gender distribution for occupational deaths in the U.S. for 2008 - 92.7% male vs. 7.3% female (see chart below, data here).  Another fact is that 90% of motorcycle fatalities in 2005 were males (see chart below, source). 

I think it's safe to say that there are huge gender disparities in criminal tendencies and risk-taking behaviors.

Q: Should gender equity be a goal here?

12 Comments:

At 6/11/2010 1:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes.

 
At 6/11/2010 1:47 PM, Anonymous Rand said...

Obviously, jails discriminate against women. They don't admit enough of them!

 
At 6/11/2010 1:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

see Walter Blocks lecture on this.

 
At 6/11/2010 2:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In all fairness I will say that I am a woman, and here is a way some occupational evening out could happen, in construction. Let's create factories in which home units could be mass produced with the same types of plumbing that plumber's unions stopped Buckminster Fuller from creating, years ago. This way, safer construction that both men and woman could build and afford, without having to depend unduly upon one another. Not to mention better sanitation at a time when our country is likely to need it.

 
At 6/11/2010 2:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There were 1.4 million males killed in motorcycle accidents in 2005? Seems a bit high to me.

-RJP

 
At 6/11/2010 2:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clearly a different set of standards need to be applied to women defendants to balance this. Maybe just 7 of the jurors voting guilty or a redefinition of guilt.

Also, there should be a safe jobs tax to subsidize safety on dangerous jobs.

There, problem solved. Vote for me in November, I'm clearly good at this stuff.

 
At 6/11/2010 2:36 PM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

RJP - Thanks for pointing that out, I had the graph mis-labeled. It's been corrected now.

 
At 6/11/2010 2:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why are all these prisoners riding to work on their motorcycles?

 
At 6/11/2010 7:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How many of the 435 women killed in motorcycle accidents were riding of vehicles driven by men, and visa-versa?

 
At 6/12/2010 5:41 AM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

> Q: Should gender equity be a goal here?

Indeed. Toss more women in jail.

 
At 6/12/2010 6:19 AM, Anonymous doubleBubble tripleDip said...

"
huge gender disparities in criminal tendencies and risk-taking behaviors
"

1 to 1 Equation

For every birth there is a death. Every animal is a murderer. Even the gender challenged farmer's daughter wrings the neck of the chicken for the preachers Sunday Fried Dinner. Out of respect for our growing overpopulation should we drop the *Brain Bucket Requirement* for those who ride their respective hogs?

U B Arithmetician

U B Judge

U B Thurgood

 
At 6/14/2010 2:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's absolutely clear that gender equality should be a goal here, but of course what that must mean is a reduction in the numbers of men in prison and an improvement in the safety practices in high-risk behaviors. How can we reduce the numbers of men in prison? We have to rethink why we should imprison people. Today, too many men are in prison for non-violent crimes, and too many men are in prison because it's become a lifestyle. The rate of imprisonment in the U.S. is extremely high, and the cost of society's choice to use imprisonment as punishment is staggering.

 

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