Short one today. In a previous post, I mentioned a simpler metric can be used to gauge civil liberties. A few days ago I found the Harper’s Index for April 2013.
Here’s what I like about some of the things tracked:
Percentage of the U.S. population that is foreign-born : 13
Percentage that was foreign-born in 1913 : 15
Change in the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States since 2007 : –900,000
Number of Alabama jury-sentencing recommendations in capital cases that have been overturned by judges since 1976 : 110
Number of those cases in which judges imposed the death penalty after juries recommended life in prison : 100
I think they’re all rather reasonable metrics (aside from the specific state ones) to gauge civil liberties. Don’t you? If only these things were uniformly tracked. Oh well.