Political correctness, crime and the rule of law

 

The catastrophic consequences of "woke" reasoning are making themselves felt in New York City policing - and elsewhere.

Last month, at the City University of New York, I lectured about how evolutions in data-led policing strategies helped New York City reduce annual murder numbers from 2,245 in 1990 to just 292 in 2017 — and from 93 annual fatal police shootings in 1971 to just six a half-century later. 

At the same time, city jail and New York State prison populations have also seen their numbers more than halved.

My presentation was layered with both data and descriptions of the tensions inherent in researching neighborhood crime dynamics. 

Following my talk, I invited students to discuss these notable statistical shifts.

What I heard from those bold enough to actually speak floored me: They told me it was racist to use data to discuss policing.

All the more so, because I’m a white woman.

I shouldn’t have been surprised.

From outraged Gen-Zers to hardened politicians, deploying data — rather than relying on one’s own “lived experiences” — is now verboten when engaging with “triggering” topics such as race or human behavior.

. . .

In one [feedback] session, I observed a 20-something advocate instruct NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker that “young people” should lead policy, while an anthropology professor suggested anthropology was key to reimagining law enforcement.

Bafflingly, such proposals were treated as expert analysis. 

This feelings-first/facts-second mentality ... has ... helped bolster weak criminal justice policies, one-dimensional media reporting and a generation of youth incapable of interpreting reality through rigorous examination.

It also represents an alarming reversal to the city’s decades-long approach to criminal-justice policy.

. . .

Data is ... becoming more difficult to come by following a suppression in record-keeping as a result of the 2017 Raise the Age legislation.

The law obscures case outcomes for approximately 83% of felonies and 75% of violent crimes committed by 16 and 17-year-olds.

This makes it virtually impossible not only for crime victims and prosecutors to know case outcomes, but for policy analysts to use hard evidence to measure the legislation’s impact.

This erosion of deep insight by relinquishing the demand for detailed data has also crossed over into how criminal justice-policy is reported.

. . .

So collectively uncomfortable have we become demanding real investigation that policymakers can safely claim just about anything.

Since New York state bail reform, the reoffending rate has only been 1% or 2%, say our Senate majority leader and city comptroller.

But how are they basing this measurement? On the small population of persistent reoffenders whom the legislation impacted? No.

Are they counting each incident if an individual reoffends multiple times? No. 

Instead, they are counting whether or not a person reoffends — as opposed to the number of times he reoffends in total.

There's more at the link.

I've said often in these pages that one can't trust "official" crime figures in many cities, because the administration(s) have ordered that certain crimes should be recorded differently (or not at all).  That may improve the image of their town, but it does nothing to help police analyze the reality of local crime and implement policies to combat it.

For example:  the linked article states baldly that "327 shoplifting recidivists [are] responsible for 30% of the city’s retail theft".  That's mind-boggling . . . but in the absence of strict data gathering and reporting, that fact won't reach legislators or police administrators, and won't help them design and implement policies to deal with so great a threat to public order.  Political correctness and "woke" policies have deprived them of access to the truth - and the law makes it impossible to present that truth in statistically verifiable fashion.

This is madness . . . but it's widespread in "woke" cities.  Yet another reason to get the hell out of such places, and move to saner, more reality-based surroundings.

Peter