A little perspective on Canada's homicide rate...

A friend of mine posted an article today in the Globe & Mail discussing new statistical data indicating that Canada's homicide rate is down to its lowest levels in 44 years. She being one opposing the Conservatives used this information to debase the Conservatives law and order agenda specifically as it relates to prisons.

Here's how I look at it.

The peak murder rate over the last 44 years was in 1975 when Canada was at 3.03 murders per 100,000 people. Today the rate is at 1.3 murders per 100,000 people.

Dropping roughly 57 percent seems like a big deal, enough that it might call into question the need for more prisons today right? Well, not really.

If you look at statistical data on violent crime, 44 years ago there were approximately 350 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 people. That peaked with a spike around 1992 to roughly 1,100 incidents per 100,000. Today, the rate is approximately 900 incidents per 100,000.

With those numbers in hand you can determine that homicide accounted for 0.37% of all violent crime in 1967 and 0.6% at its 1970's peak. Today it accounts for 0.17% of all violent crimes.

So while it may seem like there's a huge drop in homicide rates, as a percentage of all violent crimes it amounted to a decrease of 0.43% from the peak rate and 0.2% from where it was 44 years ago.

Hardly seems impressive, doesn't it?

If the media and the left want to talk about crime over the last 44 years, I'm all for it. Our violent crime rate today is 260% of what it was 44 years ago. Doesn't sound like crime is under control when you put it that way, does it?

*** Update ***

A comment by BlameCrash actually makes a very interesting point. These numbers are representative of a per 100,000 people in Canada. But that doesn't take into account the growing population.

The population was 20 million in 1966, 22 million in 1976 and is presently 33.7 million. If one were to assume the percentage convicted remained the same, that would mean that the prison population today would actually be 4 times that of what it was in the 1960's.

Yet, when one looks at incarceration rates, this is not the case. Alarmingly, it is quite the opposite!

In fact, in 1966 the total number of adults incarcerated was twice the number of incidents of violent crime. By the 1990's the numbers were exactly the same. So, while violent crime had been increasing, the number sent to prison for violent offences as a percent of all convictions would have actually had to decrease significantly.

Do we need any further proof that violent offences have been treated with increasing leniency?

Thieves preying on "poor" Wall Street protestors

The New York Post had an interesting article posted yesterday about how thieves had been preying on the Occupy Wall Street protestors.

I feel sorry for anybody that has been robbed. But the first few paragraphs of the article were particularly enlightening.

Occupy Wall Street protesters said yesterday that packs of brazen crooks within their ranks have been robbing their fellow demonstrators blind, making off with pricey cameras, phones and laptops -- and even a hefty bundle of donated cash and food.

“Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment,” said Nan Terrie, 18, a kitchen and legal-team volunteer from Fort Lauderdale.

“I had my Mac stolen -- that was like $5,500."

Hmm... pricey cameras, phones and a $5,500 Apple laptop. I have an Apple laptop. I can't afford one that runs $5,500 though.

I guess I need to be part of the 1 percent of the 99 percent of the... whatever...

A Legend Is Gone... adieu Mr. Jobs.

There are some people who are great for one reason or another. They invent something fantastic. They create works of beauty. They contribute to the world and change it in one way or another for the better.

But what do we say about somebody who changed everything we do?

There are very few people like that. Steve Jobs, who passed away today at the far too young age of 56, was one of those few.

If one is to look around at the world today, there is almost nothing that hasn't been touched by what he put in motion. In the world of personal computers, Jobs has been at the forefront of technology since the earliest days.

The Apple and Apple II were some of the earliest and most successful mass-market computers to hit the marketplace. Steve Jobs is largely credited with the adoption of multiple fonts including proportionally spaced fonts. The Macintosh was the first commercially viable computer to hit the market that featured both a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse and is largely credited with having pushed both features to the forefront of home computing.

(And before anybody gets into the debate about Microsoft ripping off Apple, the truth is that Apple's wasn't the first GUI out there and the original Microsoft team worked with Apple. Apple however was the first to market and first to make a viable case for GUI's in the personal computing world. That said, Windows has been playing catch up with Apple ever since.)

When he was forced out of Apple he created NeXT and bought out a tiny animation studio called Pixar. It is largely due to his visionary ideals that Pixar is what it is today. And when he came back to Apple as it floundered in the marketplace creeping towards almost certain death, he turned it all around.

As the iMac shows, he saw the obsolescence of disk drives several years before the competition did. And the iMac paved the way for single component home computers going from the colourful little dome-shaped devices, to the flatscreen on a half-basketball device to the all in one monitor and computer.

His love for music saw the rise of the iPod which revolutionized portable music players. The iTunes store changed how music is sold in a simple way that even record companies came to appreciate.

Then there was the iPhone. While the Blackberry and Palm were well established, the iPhone with it's fully touch screen functionality and integration with music playback turned the smartphone market on its head. It is now in regular competition with Google's Android phone market for the top spot.

And of course we have the iPad. Tablet PC's when introduced were largely considered as strange computers for tech geeks and nobody else. Leave it to Apple to come up with a device so user-friendly and intuitive with complete cross-relation to its iPod and iPhone technologies as to become an instant hit. And while many other tablets have come to market (and some have already gone) the iPad is still the market leader.

I have used Apple products almost exclusively (school and work account for the "almost" part) for the past seventeen years. As a computer geek who has ripped apart and built PC's and has worked with every version of Windows since Windows 3 was released, my adoration for Mac's OS has grown stronger with every buggy version of Windoze.

I use my MacBook at work because it is the only thing fast and intuitive enough in its design to keep up with how I think. The ability to jump between screens and interact on multiple levels at the same time is wonderful. The instantaneous Finder and the Quicklook preview features makes my work life a breeze.

I'm a musician. I compose, record, mix and produce my band's music on Macs. There really is no comparison when comparing Windows music software to the same software on a Mac. The performance difference is undeniable.

I'm a writer. I've written several screenplays on my Mac.

I use my MacBook to watch movies while traveling. I use my iPod everyday as I commute to work.

I have been on the verge of getting my first smartphone for the past few months. I was waiting until this month as I knew the next version of the iPhone was going to be available. And when I see what Apple's Siri software does, acting as a virtual assistant that runs on voice command doing everything you want it to do in calling, texting and scheduling, I honestly can't wait.

I love the iPad and can see so many uses in my future. The compatibility between it and several music applications I use is perfect. It's ability as an e-reader and video playback device is fantastic.

And I have to say, Pixar has created some of my favourite films over the past twenty years.

When I look over my life and how Steve Jobs has played a part in almost everything I do, it is almost unfathomable.

How do you measure that?

He was a leader. He was an innovator. He was a pioneer. He was brave in the face of being cast out of his own company. He persisted and created other great things. He was vindicated in being brought back to run his own company.

He had a hand in changing the experience of every computer user in the world regardless of the operating system. He changed the world of music.

I am sad to see Steve Jobs go. There will never be another person quite like him.