The average prison sentence for those convicted of defrauding
banks, insurance companies and consumers by guile rather than
guns is a good deal shorter in the Northern District of Alabama
than it is in many other parts of the nation. And digging further
into TRACFED data, Birmingham News reporters Val Walton and and
John Archibald also found that the average sentence for those
convicted for simple drug possession in the district was eight
times longer than it was for bank fraud. The reporters buttressed
their findings with facts drawn from a number of specific cases
and numerous interviews in a carefully documented 2,400 word article.
