Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.misc,alt.desert-storm,misc.headlines,talk.politics.mideast,alt.desert-storm.facts Subject: REFERENCES TO STATS Summary: Distribution: world Keywords: Copy of a letter just sent out... (in reply to requests for References for stats given) ------------------------------------------------------------------ In-reply-to: [...]'s message of Mon, 25 Feb 91 10:59:13 EET Subject: Death Penalty statistics [I'm posting this to the net, since I took the time to gather this all up] From: [...] Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 10:59:13 EET ------------------------------------------------------------------ > The U.S. and South Africa STAND OUT again as the lone duo for states > practicing the Death Penalty; > per capita executions: 2ND IN THE WORLD (after South Africa) Could you tell me the source of this, please? Here are the sources: The first item you quoted is taken out of context: The U.S. is THE ONLY WESTERN industrial nation, or the only one save ################################## for South Africa if it is counted (Amnesty does not) which does not provide universal health care for all its citizens; The U.S. and South Africa STAND OUT again as the lone duo for states ###############================= practicing the Death Penalty; ... I obviously did not mean that the U.S. and South Africa are the only two countries in the world who have the death penalty. For heaven's sake, at least in the case of couties like China and the Soviet Union, nearly all Americans know thes practice the death penalty (*) Depending on the definition of "Western (countries)" and "Western industrial (countries)", I have seen, depending on the precise phrase and definition, either the U.S. being the only one of the only one other than South Africa. The later is stated in a pamphlet by Amensty International: In recent years many countries have recognized this and abolished the death penalty. In 1976 Canada outlawed capital punishment. France did the same in 1981. In 1987 East Germany abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In fact, the United States is the only western industrial nation which still practices capital punishment... "The Death Penalty: CRUEL & INHUMAN PUNISHMENT" by AI I have the entire pamphlet on line, as well as a pamphlet on the Death Penalty by the Institute for Southern Studies. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For Per Capital executions: Among industrial countries only South Africa condemns and executes more people per capita than the United States. See Chicago Tribune, 2/20/89, in a letter by Randolph N. Stone, Public Defender of Cook County - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [see lib/resources/econ.4] According to the Center for Defense Information, military spending could easily be reduced by $100 billion per year, "without in any way affecting security" (quote may be ITT's paraphrase, not CDI's --HB) Above are from: In These Times 3/28-4/3, 1990 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - More than 1,000,000 in prison in US ======================================== People in jail per 100,000: (1) U.S.: 426 (2) South Africa: 333 (3) Soviet Union: 268 (*) Europe: 35 to 120 (*) Asia: 21 to 140 In rate, U.S. has 28% more than South Africa; 59% more than Soviets in prisons. ======================================== Black males in prison per 100,000: United States: 3,109 South Africa: 729 ======================================== Since 1980, crime rate down 3.5%; number in prison up 100% (doubled) From the New York Times, 1/7/91, p. A14. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "According to UNESCO, the U.S. ranks 49th among 156 United Nations member countries in its rate of literacy, and this current ranking reflects a drop of 18 places since 1950" "As reported in the 1986 publication entitled Making Literacy Programs Work: A Practical Guide for Correctional Educators (for the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections), one-half of all adults in federal and state correctional facilities cannot read or write at all. Only about one-third of those in prison have completed high school." Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. 5795 Wildewaters Parkway, Syracuse, NY 13214 (315)445-8000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - According to the Center for Defense Information, military spending could easily be reduced by $100 billion per year, "without in any way affecting security" (quote may be ITT's paraphrase, not CDI's --HB) From: In These Times 3/28-4/3, 1990 --------------------------------- Center for Defense Information (CDI) 1500 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 862-0700 [For contributions, "Att'n Admiral La Rocque"] "..CDI receives no funds from government agencies or military contractors.." Directors are retired Admirals, Majors, etc. Publishes Defense Monitor. Sample issue for $1 donation; donations (tax-deductible) of $25 or more gets you a full subscription. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Life expectancy: lower than Japan, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Finland, France, New Zeland, Denmark, England, and Canada (whose citizens pay, under it's National Health Insurance policy, 3/4 of what U.S. citizens have to pay, while having a life expencancy of 2 years --Regarding life expectancy, see World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1990 (cited in In Health, July/August 1990. ################################################################## [Stats from a number of different sources, given her w/out referece; the ACTIV-L resource file on National Health Care / National Health Insurance (NHI) will soon have its final draft done, which will contain all the refs.] [Of course, these are going to be "refuted" again in discussions I will miss, someone will email.... and the ref's for all this will be compiled probably in the very near future again...] ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ranking of Total spending on health care Low Infant Mortality Rank U.S. 1st 20th Canada 2nd 5th ------------------------------------------------------------------ DON'T WE ALREADY HAVE THE WORLD'S BEST HEALTH CARE? It's certainly the most expensive. In 1987, we spent $2,050 per citizen on health care. Canada spent an average of $1,480, most European nations even less. Unfortunately, spending the most hasn't made us the healthiest. Canada, culturally most like the United States, has an infant mortality rate 25 percent lower. Their rate of heart disease death is 20 percent lower. Their average life span --77.1 years-- is almost two years longer ============================================================ Medical costs as percentage of Gross Domestic Product: 1980 1989 increase U.S.: 9.2% 12% + 30 percent Canada: 7.4% 8.9% + 20 percent ============================================================ ============================================================ Percentage of premiums consumed by overhead: Private Insurance Companies: 12% (overhead & profits) Public payers (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid): 3% Canadian provincial insurance plans: under 1% ============================================================ ================================================== Billing, administration, and insurance overhead as percentage of total spending: U.S.: 22% Canada: 13.7% U.K. 11.1% ================================================== "Since then, policies aimed at containing costs have increased the bureaucratic share of health expenditures in the U.S. to one-quarter of the total bill. Almost $90 billion could have been save in 1987 alone (enough to expand access to care to all Americans) if the U.S. was as administratively efficient as Canada." "In Canada, according to the latest study, citizens each spent $18 a year for "administrative" costs," while each of us spent $95 -- for a total of $20 billion more than we would have with Canadian-style care. That's not all. Our doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes spend much more --$62.1 billion by a 1983 estimate-- filing out insurance forms, billing patients, and collecting.citizen's earnings." "Last year our country spent $640 billion on health care. With a Canadian-style system, at Canadian rates, we could cover everyone for $365 billion." ------------------------------------------------------------------ (*) It is not widely known, and may be worthwhile mentioning here, that whilelegislation has been introduced in the U.S. to increase dramatically the number of capital offences (I'm not sure if this passed; remember the huge (and partial) list posted of proposed capital offences?), the Soviet Union has introduced legislation to reduce the number of capital offenses (this part, I think, passed), as well as to abolish the death penalty for women and men over 60(?) -although the last thing I heard the Congress of People's Deputies was whimping out, and it has still not been passed- while execution of those under 18, already illegal in the S.U. and all but a handful of brutal regimes, has been "ok"d, as well as executing hte mentally retarded. ################################################################## For more information about ACTIV-L or PeaceNet's brochure, send inquiries to harel@dartmouth.edu ################################################################### # Harel Barzilai for Activists Mailing List (AML) # ################################################################### To join AML, just send the message "SUB ACTIV-L " to the address: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET; you should then receive a message confirming that your name has been added to the list. 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