Tag: Policy

America’s most anxious city revealed by data. It should have been painfully obvious — RT Op-ed

This is an interesting article about the failure of Seattle in 2020. This is a nice contrast to how the media portrayed Seattle as a success story.

You only have to look at how Seattle (mis) governs itself, allows anarchic ‘autonomous zones’ to flourish, and slashes police budgets, to realise its residents have got a lot to be nervous about.
— Read on www.rt.com/op-ed/539967-seattle-residents-chop-us/

DA STAT

Data Driven Decision-Making

This is a very interesting website. I suggest taking time to look through the data. I have some suspicious with the explanation of the data and what data is available. There is noting positive about the Quality of Life in San Francisco. Homelessness and Crime is out of control. I took a quick look at the data and 2021 looks no different and even better (the filing rate) than pre-Boudin years.
I would like to know if defendants not held on bail are committing new crimes while there criminal cases are pending, because intuitively it looks like more are. What is the recidivism of those released? Some reports from California show recidivism low yet for probation about 60% commit a new crime or break the rules of probation and are sent back to prison.
One serious flaw is the understatement of harm in property crimes. People feel violated when someone breaks into their car rips open all the compartments spewing the contents on the floor of the car and taking everything of value. Its worse if the car is damaged to make entry or your college term paper was on your laptop that was stolen. The violation to your person increases when your garage or home is burglarized. Realistically chances of being burglarized is rare and the burglar returning is even rarer. Yet the fear people have when finding that their home was broken into, the contents of all their drawers and closets dumped on the floor. There private areas of their home occupied by a stranger rummaging their intimate possessions. Some people can’t go back into their home.
Yet Progressive Prosecutors want us to believe that these property crimes really are not a big deal and do not call for much in the form of punishment and certainly not prison. Below DA Boudin want to resolve ham – he is talking for the defendant. The Defendant caused the harm and now needs to be accountable for the penalty of prison.

Under the leadership of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office works tirelessly to restore victims, resolve harm, and break the cycle of crime. As gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, prosecutors have both a legal and ethical duty to ensure the system operates effectively and without bias to protect public safety.

SA STAT can be found here

Improving Police Clearance Rates of Shootings: A Review of the Evidence | Manhattan Institute

In 2020, cities across the U.S. experienced a stunning increase in serious gun violence. In New York City, the number of shooting incidents nearly doubled, from 777 in 2019 to 1,531 in 2020.[1] This included an 88% increase in gun murders (from 154 in 2019 to 290 in 2020) and a 99% increase in…
— Read on www.manhattan-institute.org/improving-police-clearance-rates-shootings-review-evidence

The Cost of Crime – 2

Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police

Many state and local governments are facing significant fiscal challenges, forcing policymakers to confront difficult trade-offs as they consider how to allocate scarce resources across numerous worthy initiatives. To achieve their policy priorities, it will become increasingly important for policymakers to concentrate resources on programs that can clearly demonstrate that they improve their constituents’ quality of life. To identify such programs, cost/benefit analysis can be a powerful tool for objectively adjudicating the merits of particular programs.
The report can be downloaded HERE

Cost of Crime Calculator

Existing high-quality research on the costs of crime and the effectiveness of police demonstrates that public investment in police can generate substantial social returns. A Center on Quality Policing study, Hidden in Plain Sight: What Cost-of-Crime Research Can Tell Us About Investing in Police, shows how this research can be used to better understand the returns on investments in police.
Go to this website (HERE) to try the “cost of crime calculator” and see how altering police staffing affects crime in the community

The Cost of Crime

THE TRUE COST OF GUN VIOLENCE

The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform has conducted a series of studies on the cost of gun violence in cities across the U.S., releasing findings from these studies in powerful, detailed infographic reports. These reports break down the specific governmental costs associated with each gun homicide and injury shooting, including crime scene response, hospital and rehabilitation, criminal justice, incarceration, victim support, and lost tax revenue. Following their release, NICJR partners with local organizers and other stakeholders to incorporate Cost of Gun Violence reports in advocacy efforts demanding increased investment in gun violence reduction strategies. For many of the reports, NICJR has partnered with Live Free, a national faith-based initiative to reduce incarceration and violence.

On the website there are 17 cities that calculations were made for gun violence. All of the report can be accessed HERE

Where Gun Stores Open, Gun Homicides Increase – Scientific American

So the homicides from gun violence are due to persons buying guns legally to kill someone? I always thought that most of the gun violence was driven by illegally obtained guns.

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.
— Read on www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-gun-stores-open-gun-homicides-increase/

Dramatically increasing incarceration is the wrong response to the recent uptick in homicides and violent crime

The question of public safety will continue to be at the forefront of our politics at the local, state, and federal level. We do not have to choose between low crime rates or low incarceration. By simultaneously pursuing both, we can make America a freer, fairer, and more peaceful nation.
— Read on www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/11/02/dramatically-increasing-incarceration-is-the-wrong-response-to-the-recent-uptick-in-homicides-and-violent-crime/

I hope that those who made the pendulum swing left are not denying the obvious that there are some serious factors at play causing a catastrophic increase in homicide yet the response is a kin to “nothing to see here”. A 30% increase in homicide is a cost of thousands of more lives and millions of dollars lost.