1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (64 page)

474

FACT :
Laws that prohibit convicted felons from casting a ballot deny an estimated
5.3 million Americans
the right to vote.
But there is good news. After nearly ten years of intense study and debate, a team of America’s top thinkers has come up with an innovative solution to this problem: don’t be a felon.

Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, “Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity,” Sentencing Project Advocacy Group, July 2007,
www.sentencingproject.org
.

475

FACT :
Hispanics are jailed at nearly
twice the rate
of whites.
But they don’t mind.

Most of them are used to sharing a room with five other people.

Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, “Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity,” Sentencing Project Advocacy Group, July 2007,
www.sentencingproject.org
.

476

FACT :
Currently,
one in nine African-American males
aged twenty-five to twenty-nine is incarcerated.
But he’s already in contact with the Cincinnati Bengals about signing once he gets paroled.

Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, “Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity,” Sentencing Project Advocacy Group, July 2007,
www.sentencingproject.org
.

477

FACT :
Timothy Cole, an African-American student, was arrested in 1985 and accused of being the rapist who’d been terrorizing the Texas Tech University campus. Jerry Wayne Johnson, the attacker, began writing confessions to Texas courts in 1995
after the statute of limitations had ended
. Cole died in prison in 1999.
Johnson says he came forward out of guilt, which surfaced after he was off the hook. Guilt’s smart like that.

Christal Bennett, “Family of Dead Inmate Seeks Exoneration,” Fox News Lubbock, June 30, 2008,
www.truthinjustice.org
.

478

FACT :
Hanging originated about 2,500 years ago in Persia as a method of execution. It became the favored method in many countries because
it remained a visible deterrent to crime
but was less gory than beheading.
You might know Persia better as modern-day Iran, and, if you do, you can’t be too surprised that they invented hanging.

“Hanged by the neck until dead,” Capital Punishment U.K.,
www.capitalpunishmentuk.org
.

479

FACT :
Crucifixion was
the most common form of execution in ancient Rome
, but today is an official method of capital punishment in just one country: Sudan.
Modern-day crucifixion—from the fine folks who brought you Darfur.

Tom Head, “Death by Crucifixion: An Overview and History of Death by Crucifixion,”
About.com
,
www.about.com
.

Donald G. Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (Rout-ledge, 2001).

“Sudan: Imminent Execution/ Torture/Unfair Trial,” Amnesty International,
www.amnesty.org
.

480

FACT :
Viktor Bout, known widely as the “Merchant of Death,” is the most notorious arms dealer, and
has accumulated a private air force as large as that of NATO countries
. His client list is said to include Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the U.S. military in Iraq, NATO forces in Afghanistan, and the United Nations in Sudan.
I’ll take “Things That Might Be A Conflict Of Interest” for $600, Alex.

“Spider Men,” Crimes and Punishments, Lapham’s Quarterly, Spring 2009.

Douglas Farah and Kathi Austin, “The New Republic: Viktor Bout And The Pentagon,” 2006,
www.globalpolicy.org
.