Let us put these statements into perspective for this particular situation:
Only one in 10 people charged with gun assaults is convicted of that charge, the newspaper found.
So in a very anti-gun city, where even legally carrying citizens or those who pull out a firearm in self defense are likely to be initially charged for assault with a firearm the conviction rate is low?
If you defend yourself, especially if you stop a crime from even happening by pulling a firearm in public, in anti places you will likely be charged with felony assault. It may get dropped as soon as it is reviewed by the DA, or in trial many times (and result in conviction other times), but it is likely to be initially charged.
Sure some of those with the charges really are criminals, but it does not say they are released, just that they are not convicted of that specific charge. Often times when evidence is lacking, or the potential of losing the case is great they attempt to reach a plea.
The plea assures a conviction, without any of the costs of a trial. In fact
the way some cities pad the conviction rates is by only charging and pursuing absolutely certain convictions, so they can cite some really high conviction rate.
So it actually sounds like they are really quick to level many charges on people in Philadelphia.
A low conviction rate is often the result of a DA or LEO charging for every crime under the sun almost every single time! So quite the opposite of only convicting a smaller number of certain cases,
they are charging so many people with so many crimes that a large number of the charges are dropped or unfounded. So for example they charge someone with 20 crimes when arrested, but 15 are bogus and excessive. That means even if they convict on 4 of the 5 real ones, they have only a 20% conviction rate overall. While if they only charged for the 5 initially they would have an 80% conviction rate.
Only two in 10 accused armed robbers are found guilty of armed robbery.
So accused? Not even charged? If I went out and accused 10,000 people today, all of whom are not found to really be guilty or even charged, does that mean the local prosecutor just failed 10,000 times?
Certainly armed robbers should be punished, but only when the evidence is there. Freedom and protections require some sacrifices.
I imagine you have heard the saying "freedom isn't free" when describing the sacrifice members of the armed forces make. Well it isn't free at home either, and sometimes more dangerous people get back out on the streets by upholding protections that will hopefully keep you out of prison if wrongly accused.
Sure beats China where almost anyone arrested is found guilty and sent to prison or executed for the accused crime.
Of course the 2nd helps to enable you and loved ones to be a little more responsible for your own destiny (where not infringed by local laws to the contrary).
It is not perfect, but freedom never will be, and it certainly is the best thing out there.
Only one in four accused rapists is found guilty of rape.
Once again the term used is "accusations". A significant number of rape accusations are false. Over 25% of those cases actually taken to trial with DNA to actually compare and referred to the FBI found the accused was not guilty, with an even higher number of inconclusive results.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194032,00.html
While many more not part of that statistic never even make it to court when charges are dropped or never even filed because the accuser recants their story. Which happens in many false accusations under heavy questioning.
So the percentage of total accusations which are false could easily be over 35% and up to almost half of all accusations based on various studies.
Some claim rape out of anger over unrelated things, while many others claim rape after committing an embarrassing consensual activity or being caught in an affair.
Certainly when rape is real it is a significant danger and predators need to be stopped. But a significant portion of initial accusations are false.
So a balance must be met.
Even if almost half of accusations were false, assuming the highest rate of false accusations there would still be over half of the real rapists not being found guilty of rape if only 1 in 4 result in conviction. (A statistic that would also include consensual sex when illegal based on age of one of the individuals.)
That is certainly troublesome, but once again sacrifices are made for freedom, including letting more guilty go free (or be found guilty of another offense) to keep the innocent found guilty low.
The best solution in a free society is once again to empower your loved ones to be more active in providing for their own self-defense.
It will not always work, but freedom beats the alternative.
