In Germany, you only get chained to the heating in the police station naked overnight. Still, I think it made me learn my lesson :(
I agree with you on the statistics matter though. And I have to say, even if I don't agree all the time, most of the posts I read from you stand out with an interesting and thought-out viewpoint. If I was a homosexual and bored with corrupting the immature minds and molesting the nubile bodies of teenagers, I would probably be trying to hit on you.
The German Polizei is very professional. That's beside the point. The issue is that the meanings of terms are different. The enforcement of certain laws varies (Even from state to state within the US). The severity of punishment is not the same. The laws themselves and even the justice systems are different. The interpretation of what data means is debatable. Often the statistics themselves are flawed………….
Often the statistics are outdated, or don't take population size into account. Many of these “studies” are flawed from the get go - population size of sample is inadequate, questions asked lead those being sampled, control group flaws, no random sampling etc. make the whole outcome flawed.
Let me give you an example: In Texas you have the highest ratio of persons incarcerated. Near .8% (793 out of 100,000) of the population is in prison. Does more people in jail equate to more crime? No, it does not. It equates to more people committing crimes going to jail. But some will use the high incarceration rate as an argument to demonstrate higher crime. You can “interpret” what the data means various ways. The liberal American will say that Texas is too tough on crime. The German will use the statistic to state that there is more crime, and the Texan will state that they simply deal with crime.