Author: scott prell

Policing Without the Police? A Review of the Evidence | Manhattan Institute

In the wake of the death of George Floyd and the summer of protests and riots that followed, police reform has once again caught the nation’s attention. But whereas past cycles of this debate have focused on changes to the police as an institution—antibias trainings, new use-of-force…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/policing-without-police-review-evidence

Wandering Cops: How States can Keep Rogue Officers from Slipping…

This report examines the issue of “wandering cops”—officers who leave one police department after alleged misconduct and are then hired by another agency. After discussing the problem of wanderers, its causes, and the relevant literature, this paper proposes a number of recommendations to…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/schulz-wandering-cops

Public Safety on NYC Subways: No Safety in Small Numbers | Manhattan Institute

As the Manhattan Institute reported last summer,[5] the subways were a violence-reduction success story from the early 1990s until 2019. Proactive policing, begun in the 1990s by then–transit police chief William J. Bratton, cut felonies by 15% just in 1991, and felonies underground continued…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/public-safety-nyc-subways-no-safety-small-numbers

More Criminals, More Crime | Manhattan Institute

New York State’s new bail laws, enacted in 2019 and made effective at the beginning of 2020, were billed as a means to end the “mass incarceration” of the poor and minorities who were unable to post even small amounts of bail.[1] Advocates justified the changes (outlined below) with…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/measuring-the-public-safety-impact-of-new-yorks-2019-bail-law

Is Defunding the Police a “Luxury Belief”? | Manhattan Institute

Amid the “racial reckoning” and months of protests that followed the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, progressive political activists, politicians, and media pundits increasingly called for “defunding”—or even “abolishing”—the police. What was meant by proponents of these…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/is-defunding-the-police-a-luxury-belief

Is Less Always More? The Unintended Consequences of New York State’s Parole Reform | Manhattan Institute

On July 10, 2021, an unknown assailant barged into the boarding-house room where 47-year-old Heather Majors was sleeping and attacked her with a hatchet, slashing her more than 30 times. Rochester, New York, emergency responders were called to the scene, but Majors’s injuries proved too…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/unintended-consequences-of-new-york-states-parole-reform

Destroyed by Discovery: How New York State’s Discovery Law Destabilizes the Criminal Justice System | Manhattan Institute

Prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material to defense attorneys prior to trial, a process referred to as “discovery.” Discovery is fundamental to a fair trial because it is impossible for defendants to make informed plea-bargain decisions if they do not know the strength of the…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/how-new-york-discovery-law-destabilizes-criminal-justice-system