Question

What are some contradictions in the American justice system?

Answer 1

Last year, after an rise in the past year, the total amount of convicted offenders stayed relatively stable. The total amount of perpetrators convicted of an indictable offense has decreased by 7 percent overall in the last year. However, there has been an increase in the amount of perpetrators accused of arms possession, sexual offenses and violence against the individual. The conviction ratio had risen before the 12 months ending June 2008, but has since remained largely stable, varying from 83% in the 12 months ending June 2008 to 84% in the last year. A similar trend has been seen in summary offences, for which the conviction ratio was also 84% in the latest year

Since the 12 months ending June 2006, the total number of offenders sentenced at all courts has dropped from 1.46 m to 1.25 m in the last year. In both indictable offenses (by 19 percent) and summary offenses by 12 percent, the amount of individuals convicted has decreased over the past decade. The amount of offenders convicted for summary offenses has risen in the last year (by 4%), while the amount of offenders convicted for indictable offenses has continued to decrease (by 8%). The complete amount of convicted perpetrators stayed widely stable, rising by 1 percent over the past year.

Fewer individuals are being processed by the criminal justice scheme as a whole, but a bigger percentage of them are actually going to court — with large decreases in the amount of individuals being warned.
There is a significant decrease in the amount of individuals convicted of more severe (indictable) offenses (7 percent since last year), but there are noticeable increases in sexual and violent crimes.
Finally, the percentage of individuals sent to custody (now more than a quarter at 27 percent) continues to rise, as does the average jail sentence duration–now 16.4 months.