Quote Originally Posted by mraynrand View Post
who can tell? So don't even try to draw comparisons then. Why get hung up on differences in money then, if comparisons are null and void?

I actually agree with you on the treatment part - try as much as possible to treat everyone the same when it comes to prosecution and sentencing. But that isn't how it works in practice - probably for the same underlying reasons as why people would think $$ are a uniform and overarching demographic characteristic.
Even if studying it is problematic due to a small sample, finances are a huge part of a demographic. It has to be accounted for in some way, even if direct population study doesn't get you useful info at first pass.