Micah shuffled through the folder he had been keeping
throughout the week. Most of the
statistics he was able to find were public domain, clippings from newspapers,
phone calls with authors, etcetera. He
had found a particularly helpful journalist who covered the case from the night
the police found Isabella’s second husband in the ditch to her transfer to
Region 7. Although he had compiled a lot
of information, he hadn’t yet arranged them into a coherent report for the
group. He looked around at his group of
six. Lilia was sitting next to him
looking distractedly at her hair. Across
from him, dark-haired Noah was scribbling furiously in his notebook, oblivious
to the rest of the group.
Mark and Tom both were leaning against the tree, trying to
pretend they were paying attention and not playing with their mobiles like they
were. Mark and Tom were assigned Trial
and Sentencing, respectively, but this case was pretty straight forward. The trial was short, and the sentencing was
expected. The only abnormality Tom found
on Sentencing was that Isabella’s sentencing specifically included the
possibility of being transferred to Region 7.
“According to the grading rubric,” Sara started, looking at
the handout, “Statistics is only ten percent of our group grade, so it doesn’t
have to be detailed, just detailed enough so it doesn’t look like we were
slacking.” Micah internally rolled his
eyes. Sara had a “type A” personality,
and was always the self-proclaimed leader of the group.
“Yeah, I know,” he said somewhat annoyed. “Okay, so because her sentencing
automatically Listed her, after five years in jail, citizens in Region 3 were
able to vote her to be sentenced to Region 7.”
“You basically said all of that already,” Sara said equally
annoyed. Her grade depended on the
entire group’s performance.
“Yeah, I know,” Micah repeated. “Let me finish. Sheesh.
Okay, so to be sentenced to Region 7, there needs to be a majority of
seventy-five percent. In Isabella’s
case, it was nearly ninety percent.”
Anticipating a rebuttal from Sara, he quickly added, “ Specifically,
eighty-nine percent of voters in Region 3 wanted Isabella to come to Region 7.”
Micah shuffled through his papers. “Additionally, I did some research on exactly
how many sentences include an automatic Listing, like it did in Isabella’s
case, and it turns out, it’s a fairly uncommon sentencing in Region 3. Only one in seven criminals convicted of
violent crimes for their first convictions are ever automatically
sentenced...so that’s less than a fifteen percent automatic Listing rate.”
Micah went on. “Another
point that is interesting is that compared to the rest of the country, Region 3
had very low automatic Listing rates.
For violent convicted criminals, the automatic Listing sentence is roughly
double that. The country’s average is
roughly thirty-three percent, or one in three sentences includes an automatic listing
for a violent criminal.”
For the first time since the group convened, Noah stopped
scribbling in his book and looked up through his stringy dark hair. “Why did Region 3 still have to vote on
sending her to us if her sentencing already included an automatic listing,” he
asked. His voice cracked as if he was
unused to speaking in public. But he had
a surprisingly low baritone voice that contrasted with his slight figure.
“That’s a good point,” Micah said, sorting through his
papers once again. “I wanted to cover that. So a sentence that includes automatic Listing
means just that. The name is just
automatically included on the voter’s ballot, along with information about the crime,
the trial, etcetera,” he glanced at Sara to make sure he was not intruding on
her territory. She was assigned the
Voting Process. Micah was sure she
covered it, but most likely, he had not paid attention to her. He had a habit of spacing out whenever she
began talking.
“So a sentence that includes automatic Listing doesn’t
automatically mean the convicted criminal is going to be sentenced to Region
7. Nationally, after a convicted
criminal is Listed, only sixty-five percent go to Region 7, which everyone
always talks about. But the interesting
thing is that in Region 3, nearly ninety-five percent of Listed criminals are
sent to us.” He looked around the group,
hoping the reality of the situation would sink in. Mark and Tom were still not paying attention,
but he had the attention of the other four members.
“So,” Lilia began, “That basically means a sentence that
includes automatic Listing in Region 3 is basically a death sentence.” Micah nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “Doesn’t
take statistics to know that.” Mark and
Tom sensed something changed in the energy of the group and tried to join in
the group conversation again, but not having heard anything Micah said, they
gave up. Micah continued with comparing statistics
of men who kill their children to women who kill their children. Statistics of women who kill their husbands
in contrast to men who kill their wives.
Micah also found percentages on the frequency rate of “black widows,” or
women who kill multiple husbands.
The group had planned to only go over what they had briefly,
but reviewing all the facts, all the statistics, the background of the
executed, drained all of them of energy.
After a few minutes of no one in
their group speaking, Lilia decided it was time to end the group meeting. It was still early in the afternoon, and she
wanted to do something to get her mind off the negative energy that she felt
with her group project.
“So, are we done?” Lilia asked. She asked the group, but she was really only
asking Sara. Noah had already packed up
his bags and was preparing to go. Mark
and Tom looked as if they were ready to fall asleep. Sara nodded.
“Yeah,” she said. “I
think we’re done for today. Our
presentation tomorrow is only going to be twenty minutes, so if you guys could
just email me all the information you collected, I’ll compile it all.” Everyone in the group stood up, ready to
leave. “Also, I think we should meet
very briefly before class starts, if that’s okay, just to make sure we have
everything. So just like fifteen minutes
before class, okay?” Sara asked.
Everyone mumbled their acquiescence.
“All right,” Mark said.
“See you guys tomorrow.”
“Bright and early tomorrow,” Tom added.
Lilia and Micah started to walk to her car. “Are you doing anything later today?” she
asked him.
Micah nodded. “Yeah,
I’m supposed to meet with Livingston to get an introduction to the Suicide
Room,” he said.
“Ah shucks,” Lilia said.
“I was going to see if you wanted to go for a run with me. I need to clear my head, and there’s a new
trail I was thinking of exploring.”
“That sounds much better than what I’ll be doing,” Micah
said. “Be safe out there, okay? There’s a lot of crazies in this world.” Lilia nodded and left Micah standing on the
side of the parking lot as she drove off in her car.
Micah turned around and headed back to the school. He was supposed to meet Mr. Livingston in a
half hour, but he wondered if he could show up earlier. The school was mostly deserted, with only a
few sports teams playing in the nearby field.
The halls were empty, and Mr. Livingston was not in his office. Micah decided to go down to the Suicide Room
himself.
The Suicide Room.
While Listed criminals were sentenced to death by execution, there was a
“mercy” rule in the law. Convicted
criminals could self-execute. They could
be the one to pull the trigger. And they
could do it even sooner than their death date.
Many citizens applauded the law because it saved the taxpayers
money. Micah walked down into the
basement.
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