The latest delay in the trial of police officers for killing Sean Bell comes from defense lawyers. They wanted the trial moved out of Queens. This motion was denied. I don’t really have a position on the trial location. But this is still a big decision. It’s not going to be easy to convict the…
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New York Timesace reporter Sewell Chan reports a proposed New York State tax on marijuana ($3.50/gram) and cocaine ($200/gram). If this tax survives court challenges, it is expected to raise over $10 million per year. These taxes are always a little strange and constitutionally questionable on grounds of double jeopardy. The real goal is to…
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The Sun has an excellent interactive graphic that can display all the year’s homicide victims. You can select for different variables, so it’s fun to play with (if you’re a nerdy academic). One of the depressing things about homicide is the racial breakdown. Breaking violent crime down by race doesn’t get much press, probably because…
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The Sun reportsthat the American Brewery is getting money for development. This building is gorgeous, in the Eastern District, and in complete disrepair. $35 million to convert the five-story former brewery into office space for a nonprofit social service. It’s good their going for office space rather than residential. The Eastern District is littered with…
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Cop brags about seized drug theft The New York Daily News reports that two narcotic detectives here caught after bragging on their own wire about stealing bags of seized cocaine. Corruption always involves drugs. But rarely in such idiotic fashion.
A student of mine went down to Baltimore and took some pictures of the Eastern. I don’t get there much anymore, even when I go to Baltimore. I don’t know anybody who lives there. In most ways, the Eastern looks like it hasn’t changed at all. In one big way, it’s changing a lot: the…
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For all the press police-involved shootings get in New York City, there are a lot more shootings in Baltimore if you take the difference in population into account (almost an equal number if you don’t). Baltimore shootings don’t get much press because the city isn’t a media center and Al Sharpton doesn’t live there. Instead,…
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“Peter Moskos, a sociologist by training, somewhat inadvertently became a police officer. Cop in the Hood is the fortuitous and fascinating result. It gives the reader the real dope from someone with the training and ability to put the street into the larger context. Highly recommended.” –Alex Tabarrok, George Mason University, cofounder of marginalrevolution.com. “Cop…
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The New York Times has an article by Al Baker, “Handcuffing the Wounded: Tactic Hits a Nerve.” I read that article with interest. Police don’t have the option to nothandcuff a suspect. I always thought that officers should have some (limited) discretion to not handcuff suspects. For instance, you’re patrolling, minding your own business, and…
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I know my classes are topical, but I wish people didn’t have to die to make it so. Yesterday I class I talked a police-involved shooting in Brooklyn and the overuse of Tasers. Today a bunch of students sent me these links about a man’s death in Vancouver after being Tasered. Proving exactly what I…
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