# Kalhoun, you are out of control.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kalhoun-you-are-out-of-control/402602>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [May 3, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kalhoun-you-are-out-of-control/402602 "2007-05-03T13:21:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 8

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kalhoun-you-are-out-of-control/402602/141 "2007-05-09T11:34:30Z")

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Okay, I’m looking around a little. The arrest rate is 810.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. That’s quite a bit lower than your rate. Why is that?

PDF File: [http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/cii/cii05/execsummary05.pdf](http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/cii/cii05/execsummary05.pdf)

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**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kalhoun-you-are-out-of-control/402602/142 "2007-05-09T12:15:15Z")

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This seems to be germane: [Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2003](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sschis03.htm) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Table 2 (in the pdf file) shows 1.5 million individuals in the “state criminal history file” in Michigan in 2003; the adult population is [about 7.5 million](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26000.html), for a 20% rate. For Illinois, 4.2 million individuals are in the “state criminal history file”, with an adult population of [9.3 million](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17000.html), for a 45% rate.

Forty-five percent seems awfully high to me (and I can’t believe Illinois is _that_ much more criminally-minded than Michigan), so I suspect there’s a difference in the definition of “criminal history file.” In any case, I’m not sure exactly how these numbers are arrived at, but the percentages bracket **wring** ’s 28%.

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kalhoun-you-are-out-of-control/402602/143 "2007-05-09T13:40:46Z")

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[QUOTE=zut]  
This seems to be germane: [Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2003](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sschis03.htm) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Table 2 (in the pdf file) shows 1.5 million individuals in the “state criminal history file” in Michigan in 2003; the adult population is [about 7.5 million](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26000.html), for a 20% rate. For Illinois, 4.2 million individuals are in the “state criminal history file”, with an adult population of [9.3 million](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17000.html), for a 45% rate.

Forty-five percent seems awfully high to me (and I can’t believe Illinois is _that_ much more criminally-minded than Michigan), so I suspect there’s a difference in the definition of “criminal history file.” In any case, I’m not sure exactly how these numbers are arrived at, but the percentages bracket **wring** ’s 28%.  
[/QUOTE]

I had no idea our populations were that close in number. That’s rather surprising. I can’t believe those numbers, either.

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