"Not all violent offenders are murderers and serious assaulters, and many
would likely be better served by not being incarcerated, but the optics and
political risks of violent-offender decarceration are much tougher to navigate
than those for drug offenses."
The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).
Just to clarify, by "jump" do you mean "surprised", "hit", or "beat the s* out of"? I wasn't familiar with a usage of "jumped" that didn't include at least being hit (if not beat up), and Urban dictionary seems to agree with that interpretation: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped
The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).