Monthly Archive: December 2020

More Cops, Less Crime, Big Data

by · Dec 1, 2020 4:45 pm

Common sense tells us that more cops on the beat should reduce crime. That was why, at the peak of America’s crime rates, Bill Clinton’s promise to put 100,000 cops on the beat struck a resonant chord with a great many Americans. But while common sense is usually right it is not always, so empirical research is needed.

Charles Lehman reports in the City Journal on research by Sarit Weisburd of Tel Aviv University using GPS data from Dallas police cars. “Weisburd demonstrates that cutting police presence leads to a dramatic increase in crime and offers compelling evidence that this effect is driven by a drop in routine patrols. Cops on the beat drive down crime.” Continue reading . . .

Stimson Testimony on Ohio Juvenile LWOP Bill

by · Dec 1, 2020 11:40 am

Yesterday, Charles Stimson of the Heritage Foundation presented the following testimony to the Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee. The committee is presently considering Senate Bill 256, which would abolish sentences of life without parole for criminals who commit major crimes as little as one day before their 18th birthdays.

Mr. Stimson was motivated to give this testimony because advocates of the bill had “misstated the law in the area” and “provided misleading information.” Continue reading . . .