Wednesday, March 15, 2023

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


15 comments:

  1. I find the most scary aspect our times is that these touchie feelie screaming meemie people are on the rolls to be called as jurors in criminal cases. As a Generation-Born-In-The-40s person the thought of them judging me on how they feel rather than what the law says feels terminal. It's bad enough to be surrounded and judged socially by them, but to be judged in court by them,...

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  2. This doesn't surprise me in the least. I've certainly seen the transformation of the Brooklyn PD in the 13 years my boat's been homeported here. We went from a diverse, tough bunch of cops to 80-90% of the officers on the street being morbidly obese 5-ft tall black women who yell from their cars a lot.
    What else can they do? All an escaping criminal has to do is go up a flight of stairs, and officer Hamplanet is going to stare from the driver's seat and yell "Y'all din't see nuffin!" while pointing a 4-inch long fake fingernail at, say, the 4 sailors walking to the grocery store.
    Anyhow, welcome to New York. Don't stand on the subway platform, especially if you're Jewish or asian and over 60.

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  3. While living in rural surroundings is desirable to some, all too many prefer the proximity of friends, family and modern conveniences and refuse to recognize the danger.

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  4. i wonder if all the 'feelers' were to be violently mugged would their eyes open?
    probably not as there are none so blind as those who WILL not see.
    WILL pigs to fly and soon the air of lala land will be filled with airborne porcines!

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    1. I guess democrats only come totheir senses after they have been robbed

      Exhibit A: the Mayor of Chicago looses her relection and will likely be succeded buy a huy who promoyes stop and frisk.

      Ehibit B: congress just verwheling voted to stop some of DC's pro criminal policies... aftrr a congresswoman was acosted and robbed in her apartment building.

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  5. The refusal to recognize statistics and other ways of conveying objective truth is why I say we're not just headed for economic collapse, we're heading toward a New Dark Ages.

    "Lived experiences" is the same as "your truth and my truth." It's fine for things like "what's your favorite color?" but horrible for anything that has to be based in reality.

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  6. 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.

    Technocracy—the use of reason and data—to guide law and society is impossible. Ideology will always triumph. One reason that is so because ideologists desire and act only on power compared to which the people (nominally “scientists”) who desire truth are and always must be weak by comparison.

    People are social beings. When society is captured by an ideology, National Socialists Science, Communist Science, or Woke Science will be followed, believed, and institutionalized because of its ideology—truth, what’s that?

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  7. When this kind of ideologically driven insanity overtook Russia, it took literally nearly a century and millions of lives wasted for them to recover. Now it's our turn in the barrel.

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  8. Departments started rolling it back and closing gang cebters during the Obama admin.

    I honestly am starting to think that the criminal politians are soft on criminals because they identify with them too much

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  9. It really looks/sounds like someone or some entity is pushing for Heinlein's "crazy years" and they are looking successful...

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  10. Just as a few people who immediately break the law after pretrial release don't represent the many thousands who don't, those students don't represent the totality of the "liberals," "progressives," "democrats," or "Gen-Zers." When I advocate for justice reform I have heard that my (data supported) notions aren't valid because I'm not in law enforcement to the courts. Stop whining about a minority of voices who don't want to hear you and stop trying to paint everyone with that brush.

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  11. Soon they will finish dismantling their ability to enforce their bad laws.

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  12. @Rob: A lot of us are thinking that...

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  13. I may never visit NYC again.
    Idiocracy has already come to NYC and SF.
    Trying to keep it out of the South.

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  14. When the rule of law is gone, most offenses are capitol offenses.

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