{"id":3424,"date":"2021-04-14T12:48:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T19:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3424"},"modified":"2021-04-14T12:48:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T19:48:17","slug":"why-sometimes-you-need-to-question-the-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3424","title":{"rendered":"Why, Sometimes, You Need To Question the Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

While looking at the entry on my Georgetown Law Faculty page (which lists inter alia news articles in which professors are quoted) I found this one<\/a> from the Washington Post, titled “Five myths about criminal justice” and subtitled, “Being ‘tough’ on crime doesn’t always make sense.”\u00a0 I’m happy to say that I make the bad list with both Kent and former US District Judge, now law professor, Paul Cassell.\u00a0 I’m listed as a sponsor of Myth # 5, to wit, “Criminal Justice Reform Means More Crime.”\u00a0 The error of my ways is described as follows:<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen leaders hesitate to engage in criminal justice reform strategies because they seem too new, nuanced<\/a>\u00a0or radical.\u00a0Law enforcement officials<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0prosecutors<\/a>\u00a0across the country have been outspoken critics of policies to reduce or eliminate cash bail. Georgetown University law professor Bill Otis, nominated to the U.S. Sentencing Commission by President Trump,\u00a0called<\/a><\/u>\u00a0efforts toward sentencing reform \u201cmore-crime-faster proposals.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My observation is then appropriately debunked.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The debunking consists of this one paragraph:<\/p>\n

But cities and counties have been working for years to implement tested, data-driven\u00a0reform strategies<\/a>\u00a0that keep communities safe while reducing the misuse and overuse of jails. This includes bail reform, which, despite the naysayers, has not been found to increase crime. In\u00a0research released this month<\/a>\u00a0by Loyola University Chicago, scholars\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0the 2017 order by Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County Timothy Evans to reevaluate the use of monetary bail in Cook County, Ill., increased the percent and number of people released pretrial without any associated significant change in new criminal activity, violent or otherwise, nor any change in the amount of crime in Chicago after 2017. Though critics insist we need to choose between reform and safety, cities and counties are proving that this is a false choice \u2014 the system can be made more fair, and all communities\u00a0can be kept safe<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s certainly true that various locales have been working for some time now to implement “reform” proposals, including bail reform.\u00a0 Over the last several years\u00a0 —\u00a0 beginning in the latter stages of the Obama administration\u00a0 —\u00a0 they have increasingly succeeded in that endeavor.\u00a0 Over those same roughly six years\u00a0 —\u00a0 2015-2020, inclusive\u00a0 —\u00a0 violent crime increased in three of them, after a steady and dramatic reduction for more than 20 years before then<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Does that mean that criminal justice reform measures caused<\/em> the jarring increase we’ve seen starting in 2015?\u00a0 No, without more, it cannot be said to mean that.\u00a0 On the other hand, the increase in violent crime over this recent span does not sit easily with the proposition that the simultaneously stepped-up implementation of “reform” measures keeps us just as safe.\u00a0 We are not just as safe.\u00a0 Indeed, as has been reported here and in many other places, last year, murder was at its highest level in a generation.\u00a0 We’re not anywhere near as safe.<\/p>\n

What particularly struck me, though, was the discussion’s sourcing, that being what is claimed to be the experience in Chicago.\u00a0 To repeat, the article says that, “research released this month” (November 2020) showed no “significant change in new criminal activity, violent or otherwise, nor any change in the amount of crime in Chicago after 2017.”<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

A less biased source has a different take, ranking Chicago as Number One in the country in the number of murders in 2020, easily outdistancing larger cities such as New York and Los Angeles.\u00a0 Specifically, “There were a total of 524 murders in Chicago in 2020 through September 6th. This figure was 345 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Chicago has a daily average of 2.1 murders so far in 2020….Chicago is one of the main cities for the drug operations of Mexican drug cartels and local gangs.” See, “The top 15 U.S. U.S. cities With Highest Number of Murders in 2020.”<\/a><\/p>\n

But what struck me most is just this:\u00a0 It’s a signal of how much the smug, Happy Face narrative of criminal justice reform thinks it will go unquestioned that it chooses Chicago<\/em>, of all places, to showcase as an example of “how we can be kept safe.”<\/p>\n

These people just don’t hear themselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While looking at the entry on my Georgetown Law Faculty page (which lists inter alia news articles in which professors are quoted) I found this one from the Washington Post, titled “Five myths about criminal justice” and subtitled, “Being ‘tough’ on crime doesn’t always make sense.”\u00a0 I’m happy to say that I make the bad list with both Kent and former US District Judge, now law professor, Paul Cassell.\u00a0 I’m listed as a sponsor of Myth # 5, to wit, “Criminal Justice Reform Means More Crime.”\u00a0 The error of my ways is described as follows: We\u2019ve seen leaders hesitate to engage in criminal justice reform strategies because they seem too new, nuanced\u00a0or radical.\u00a0Law enforcement officials\u00a0and\u00a0prosecutors\u00a0across the country have been outspoken critics of policies to reduce or eliminate cash bail. Georgetown University law professor Bill Otis, nominated to the U.S. Sentencing Commission by President Trump,\u00a0called\u00a0efforts toward sentencing reform \u201cmore-crime-faster proposals.\u201d My observation is then appropriately debunked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy, Sometimes, You Need To Question the Source - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3424\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why, Sometimes, You Need To Question the Source - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While looking at the entry on my Georgetown Law Faculty page (which lists inter alia news articles in which professors are quoted) I found this one from the Washington Post, titled “Five myths about criminal justice” and subtitled, “Being ‘tough’ on crime doesn’t always make sense.”\u00a0 I’m happy to say that I make the bad list with both Kent and former US District Judge, now law professor, Paul Cassell.\u00a0 I’m listed as a sponsor of Myth # 5, to wit, “Criminal Justice Reform Means More Crime.”\u00a0 The error of my ways is described as follows: We\u2019ve seen leaders hesitate to engage in criminal justice reform strategies because they seem too new, nuanced\u00a0or radical.\u00a0Law enforcement officials\u00a0and\u00a0prosecutors\u00a0across the country have been outspoken critics of policies to reduce or eliminate cash bail. 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