When President Trump announced his crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., the local U.S. attorney said she wanted to focus on juveniles. But experts say harsher punishments don’t deter criminals.
— Read on www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5501528/federal-police-takeover-washington-dc-teenagers
Tag: Crime
Teenage victims and criminals have increased since ‘raise the age’ law passed
This year, New York City residents have been benefitting from historic declines in shootings and homicides, and from less-sharp, but still meaningful, decreases in other crime categories.
— Read on nypost.com/2025/08/08/opinion/teenage-victims-and-criminals-have-increased-since-raise-the-age-law-passed/
Anatomy of a Ferguson Cycle – by Charles Fain Lehman
Back in 2015, my Manhattan Institute colleague Heather MacDonald popularized the term “Ferguson effect” to refer to a dramatic increase in homicide which (the term and she implied) was caused by the wave of protests, in turn instigated by the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the year before. The homicide rate rose 11 percent in 2015, and another 10 percent in 2016, before cresting and receding. This, MacDonald and others argued at the time, was the result of a reduction in police proactivity, itself caused by political attacks on and criticism of the police in the wake of Brown’s death (among other high-profile incidents).
— Read on thecausalfallacy.com/p/anatomy-of-a-ferguson-cycle
How Mask Bans Threaten Free Speech, From New York to North Carolina | The Marshall Project
The problem with relying on identification technologies or some type of biometric technology is that you have to have a database that can compare the captured real time data. There is no all-encompassing database where cell phone usage can identify a person or facial recognition can identify a person. It’s difficult to identify a person after the incident.
Removing the mask would act as a deterrence. Why do people rob banks with masks on, because they don’t want to be identified. People who go to protests and act illegally would be deterred from doing so if they couldn’t wear masks. Most people are uncomfortable greeting a mask wearing stranger at their house. That’s because there is a certain connotation about people’s motives when they are wearing masks.
Privacy advocates worry banning masks at protests will encourage harassment, while cops’ high-tech tools render the rules unnecessary.
— Read on www.themarshallproject.org/2024/11/12/mask-bans-protest-surveillance
‘We helped each other. We taught each other the law.’ | The Lens
In 1983, to help fight the wrongful charge, Calvin Duncan began to teach himself the law, while being held within the Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans. In his new book The Jailhouse Lawyer, co-written by Sophie Cull, he writes about that time in his life:
— Read on thelensnola.org/2025/07/08/we-helped-each-other-we-taught-each-other-the-law/
Crime Is Down in 2025. Trump Doesn’t Deserve Credit. | Vera Institute
For the past year, Donald Trump has been saying that “homicides are skyrocketing” and the country is “breaking down” with violence even as the data told a much different story. Now, as crime keeps declining, even Trump is finally changing his tune. Data and analysis from the FBI, Council on Criminal Justice, and Major Cities Chiefs Association all show that, overall, crime went down significantly in 2024, with violent crime largely returning to pre-pandemic levels. The good news defies expectations: homicide rates in Baltimore, Detroit, and St. Louis declined even beyond pre-pandemic levels to historically low 2014 rates. Now, early data suggests that the crime drop is continuing under Trump’s second term. It is still too early in the year to talk with confidence about crime trends in 2025, but at least one researcher projects that 2025 is on track to follow 2024 in terms of continued declines in homicides and violent crime.
— Read on www.vera.org/news/crime-is-down-in-2025-trump-doesnt-deserve-credit
Vancouver’s Innovative Retail Crime Fighting Solution – Project Barcode
Check out this podcast.
Vancouver’s Innovative Retail Crime Fighting Solution, Project Barcode, with Sgt. Craig Reynolds & Arezo Zarrabian, Vancouver Police Department (Encore) – Retail Council of Canada
— Read on www.retailcouncil.org/podcast/vancouvers-innovative-retail-crime-fighting-solution-project-barcode-with-sgt-craig-reynolds-arezo-zarrabian-vancouver-police-department-encore/
Rioting Mainly for Fun and Profit
What Edward Banfield’s work tells us about another summer of disorder and violence amid the anti-ICE protests
— Read on www.city-journal.org/article/los-angeles-anti-ice-protests-riots-edward-banfield
In Defense of Destroying Property | The Nation
The Nation Magazine
— Read on www.thenation.com/article/activism/blm-looting-protest-vandalism/
Police spending linked to shorter lives for Black Americans
The article “Police spending linked to shorter lives for Black Americans” discusses a new study that argues increases police spending results in increases police killings and suicide of black males. The article can be accessed HERE and in the article there is a link to the academic article.
It is interesting that the study didn’t include violent crime as a factor in it’s analysis. It is possible that with the killing of 11,528 black males (2022 see graph below), illustrates the impact that the amount of violent crime in a community could effect deaths and suicides of Black men?
In 2022 police killed 1,201 people. Of the police killings 26% (about 312) of the killings were of black people (men and females).
My question is – In 2022 what was more dangerous to Black communities in contributing to suicide and deaths? Was it violent crime with 11,528 homicides of Black men or the police killings of 312 Black individuals? Homicide of Black men was 36.9 times greater than police killing Black persons.
