As a criminal defense attorney a spend a good part of each day in court. Over the last two and a half years I've noticed something odd -- there are hardly any fat felony defendants (you'll see fatties in the line for traffic court but not in the felony departments).
I get the chance to observe about 50 in-custody defendants a day (my clients plus all the other inmates in court that day). Multiply this by about 200 court days a year -- I see about 10,000 inmates a year. So since I started this gig I've observed about 25,000 inmates. Despite this large sample size I've only seen one truly fat inmate (a gentleman who I'd estimate weighed about 475 pounds). In addition I've seen a 320 lb female child abuser, a 300 male child molester, and two 350 lb female welfare cheats. Not a single fat robber, burglar, or weapons violator. That's only five out of 25,000 or 0.02%.
Given that my central California city has a rather high rate of obesity I expected many more fat defendants. Kind of odd don't you think?
I get the chance to observe about 50 in-custody defendants a day (my clients plus all the other inmates in court that day). Multiply this by about 200 court days a year -- I see about 10,000 inmates a year. So since I started this gig I've observed about 25,000 inmates. Despite this large sample size I've only seen one truly fat inmate (a gentleman who I'd estimate weighed about 475 pounds). In addition I've seen a 320 lb female child abuser, a 300 male child molester, and two 350 lb female welfare cheats. Not a single fat robber, burglar, or weapons violator. That's only five out of 25,000 or 0.02%.
Given that my central California city has a rather high rate of obesity I expected many more fat defendants. Kind of odd don't you think?
