More murders in Chicago. Fewer in NYC. Clearly something is going on. But generally you’ll hear nothing but crickets (or winter winds) blow through the ivory towers. It’s a real shame. These days, most academics will (almost reluctantly) concede that effective policing may play a roll in reducing homicide. And yet still very few academics…
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Chicago’s 2012 murder total was 532. NYC’s total number for 2012 was 417. Even in absolute numbers this is significantly lower than Chicago! Amazing. The comparable homicide rates for NYC and Chicago are 5 and 20 per 100,000. Homicides in New York City declined 19 percent from 2011 (just to remember: in 1990 2,245 people…
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Remember that fear mongering from last year? “Which one?” you might say. The one about more police officer getting killed? Forty officers were shot and killed in 2008. In 2011 that number increased to 67! Even the New York Times go in the act: “72 officers were killed by perpetrators in 2011, a 25 percent…
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Eleven people were shot in Chicagoearly New Year’s Day. Nine were shot New Year’s morning in New York City. Happy New Year. Meanwhile, best I can tell, nobody was shot in Baltimore! The Baltimore Sun gives a crude but useful breakdown of basic homicide demographics for the 217 killings in Charm City in 2012. Of…
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I listened to the NRA press conference with interest. It was strangely moderate, by NRA standards. Your opinion of what was said probably comes down to whether you want to live in a more armed or less armed society. I prefer less. That said, I’m happy to have students with guns in my school. I…
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…at least at first. David Durk died last month. And I didn’t even know it. That really would have pissed him off. (My excuse for missing the obits was that I was en-route to a conference in Chicago. Here’s one. And another. And a third.) Let me take you back a bit. In October, 2009,…
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I’ve said it before: “Barring some seismic realignment in this country, the gun control debate is all but settled–and your side won. The occasional horrific civilian massacre is just the price the rest of us have to pay.” And then there’s this gem of a cartoon.
The documentary is out: Breaking the Taboo. Directed by Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade, it stars Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman, leaders of Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, Colombia, and an additional cast of dozens (including me): My favorite parts? Other than the guy who appears before Bill Clinton at 17:15, it would be…
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An all too rare reporting of a cop doing a good deed. Of course the cynic in me worries that he will get in trouble for 1) being off post, 2) shopping while on duty, and 3) accepting a police discount. That’s they way cops think because that’s the way the departments can f*ck you,…
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A BJS reportreports the number of state and federal prisoners decreased last year by 17,264. This has been called a small step in the right direction (since there’s no reason the US should lead the world in incarceration rate and numbers). But what I haven’t heard, and it seems relevant, is that this decrease can…
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