Mark your calenders for next Thursday, October 23. I’ll be entertaining the crowd with discussions about policing, the war on drugs, and Cop in the Hood. All this at the wonderfully titled “Non-Motivational Speakers Series.” Tell your friends. Best yet, this event is at a bar. No, none of that stuffy academic pretension (no pipes…
Read more
‘Guns are everywhere,’ Orlando police chief says A surge in murder and gunfire locally since the end of the federal assault-weapons ban in 2004. […] Florida law makes it easy for any adult without a criminal record to buy a gun. Yet many legally purchased guns end up being used by criminals. The state routinely…
Read more
Good news from Charm City. Justin Fenton of the Sun describes the impact of one police unit. If all this is police’s doing, and it might be, note just how much 250 officers can accomplish (out of a police force of less than 3,000 in a city of 650,000 people).
The Agitator has a good post looking at how failure doesn’t stop our drug warriors from claiming success. The news is always good in the Bizarro World of prohibitionists.
But the old-fashioned kind. Against alcohol. In Alaska. Of course it doesn’t work. Prohibition never does. Alcohol abuse and alcohol-related crime is a huge problem in small-town Alaska. After the drinking comes the sexual abuse and rape, often incestuous. A friend of mine is a public defender up there. Oh, the stories he can tell.…
Read more
America is more of a “guilt” culture than a “shame” culture. What does that mean? Guilt is something you feel. Shame is what you feel based on what othersfeel toward you. We want our criminals to feel remorse. That’s guilt. Ashamed to show your face in public because your grandma will think less of you?…
Read more
I was. Last night. On the night train coming back from Boston. I met Charles Rangel in the cafe car. I was chatting with the cafe man and drinking a beer. Here is one of the most powerful men in America. Taking the night train. Tired. No entourage. Willing to talk. We did. He knew…
Read more
Does a tough economy mean more crime? Not necessarily. Good policing is more important, sez me. Here’s the story in the New York Times.
I have advocated that all drug defendants demand jury trials. It’s a constitutional right. It would end the war on drugs. That is kind of sort happening on a small scale. Here’s the story in the Sun. Our system of justice is broken.
Peter Hermann of the Baltimore Sun has an interesting article about discharges… that is, shots fired but nobody hit. No harm, no foul.