#US crime rate

[reasonsforhope]

"Expanding freedom and opportunity to millions

Over a decade ago, researchers, policymakers, journalists, and individuals and family members harmed by prisons and jails helped define American mass incarceration as one of the fundamental policy challenges of our time. In the years since, policymakers and voters in red, blue, and purple jurisdictions have advanced criminal justice reforms that safely reduced prison and jail populations, expanding freedom and opportunities to tens of millions of Americans.

After nearly forty years of uninterrupted prison population growth, our collective awareness of the costs of mass incarceration has fundamentally shifted–and our sustained efforts to turn the tide have yielded meaningful results.

Since its peak in 2009, the number of people in prison has declined by 24 percent (see figure 1). The total number of people incarcerated has dropped 21 percent since the 2008 peak of almost 2.4 million people, representing over 500,000 fewer people behind bars in 2022. Absent reforms, more than 40 million more people would have been admitted to prison and jail over this period. The number of people on probation and parole supervision has also dropped 27 percent since its peak in 2007, allowing many more people to live their lives free from onerous conditions that impede thriving and, too often, channel them back into incarceration for simple rule violations.1

"Absent reforms, more than 40 million more people would have been admitted to prison and jail over this period. [2008 to 2022]"

Make no mistake: mass incarceration and the racial and economic disparities it drives continue to shape America for the worse. The U.S. locks up more people per capita and imposes longer sentences than most other countries. Nearly 1-in-2 adults in the U.S. have an immediate family member that has been incarcerated, with lifelong, often multigenerational, consequences for family members’ health and financial stability. Yet the past decade of successful reforms demonstrate that we can and must continue to reduce incarceration. These expansions of freedom and justice–and the millions of people they have impacted–help define what is at stake as public safety has reemerged as a dominant theme in American public and political conversation.

...We have a robust body of research built over decades showing that jail stays and long prison sentences do not reduce crime rates. And fortunately, we have an extensive and expanding body of research on what does work to reduce crime and keep communities safe. The evidence is clear: our focus must be on continuing and accelerating reductions in incarceration.

Black imprisonment rate drops by nearly half

People directly impacted by incarceration and other leaders in the criminal justice reform movement have persistently called out how the unequal application of policies such as bail, sentencing, and parole (among others) drive massive racial disparities in incarceration. The concerted effort to reduce our prison population has had the most impact on the group that paid the greatest price during the rise of mass incarceration: Black people, and particularly Black men.

The Black imprisonment rate has declined by nearly 50 percent since the country’s peak imprisonment rate in 2008 (see figure 2). And between 1999 and 2019, the Black male incarceration rate dropped by 44 percent, and notable declines in Black male incarceration rates were seen in all 50 states. For Black men, the lifetime risk of incarceration declined by nearly half from 1999 to 2019—from 1 in 3 Black men imprisoned in their lifetime to 1 in 5.

While still unacceptably high, this reduction in incarceration rates means that Black men are now more likely to graduate college than go to prison, a flip from a decade ago. This change will help disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty for generations to come.

Expanding safety and justice together

The past decade-plus of incarceration declines were accompanied by an increase in public safety. From 2009-2022, 45 states saw reductions in crime rates, while imprisoning fewer people, with crime falling faster in states that reduced imprisonment than in states that increased it.

This is in keeping with the extensive body of research showing that incarceration is among the least effective and most expensive means to advance safety. Our extremely long sentences don’t deter or prevent crime. In fact, incarcerating people can increase the likelihood people will return to jail or prison in the future. Public safety and a more fair and just criminal system are not in conflict.

Strong and widespread support for reform

We have also seen dramatic progress on the public opinion front, with a clear understanding from voters that the criminal justice system needs more reform, not less. Recent polling shows that by a nearly 2 to 1 margin respondents prefer addressing social and economic problems over strengthening law enforcement to reduce crime. [In simpler terms: people are twice as likely to prefer non-law-enforcement solutions to crimes.]

Nearly nine-in-ten Black adults say policing, the judicial process, and the prison system need major changes for Black people to be treated fairly. Seventy percent of all voters (see figure 3) and 80 percent of Black voters believe it’s important to reduce the number of people in jail and prison. Eighty percent of all voters, including nearly three-fourths of Republican voters, support criminal justice reforms.

This is not only a blue state phenomenon. Recent polling in Mississippi indicates strong support across the political spectrum for bold policies that reduce incarceration. For example, according to polling from last month, 72 percent of Mississippians, including majorities from both parties, believe it is important to reduce the number of people in prison (see figure 4). Perhaps most tellingly, across the country victims of crime also support further reforms to our criminal justice system over solutions that rely on jail stays and harsh prison sentences...

We are at an inflection point: we can continue to rely on the failed mass incarceration tactics of the past, or chart a new path that takes safety seriously by continuing to reform our broken criminal justice system and strengthening families and communities."

-via FWD.us, May 15, 2024

[ideas-ideasideasideas]

Headcanon that instead of signing his threats Red Hood uses semicolons liberally (and correctly) because nobody up to their eyeballs in crime in his part of Gotham uses semicolons. ‘Don’t even try to run; I know all of your hideouts’ is a Certified Red Hood Threat. ‘I’m always watching; every minute every second’ is someone impersonating Red Hood.

[jangillman]

[hopefully-helpful-daemon]

I want Starling to be the insane place that Gotham thinks it is. the only difference is that it's so normal that the people don't even blink when something happens.

A video comes out of Roy Harper and Connor Hawke beating the shit out of a man in the middle of the street? with Mia Dearden cheering them on from the sidewalk? doesn't even make breaking new until it comes out that the man had called Mia something less then flattering, and then the man's face is everywhere.

the nearest big body of water has to be dragged every quarter to make sure that no new bodies have been dumped. there's always at least one pulled up, usually two.

you want to take your kid to the park? sorry, that ones been closed off because they found a body on it this morning! what about the other park on the opposite side on town? it just recently reopened with a big sign saying 'we tried to get all of brain and guts out of the wood chips but we might have missed some, watch your kids!'

the police have recommended a curfew of before sundown? that's because the Dollmaker got out of Ironhights again and he grabs people in the dark. But don't worry! they're hoping to get him before he gets more then 3 people.

the people of Gotham don't think that Bruce is Batman because how the hell could Brucie Wayne be The Batman? the people of Starling don't think that Oliver is the Green Arrow because GA doesn't kill enough people.

there's a compilation that grows by 2 minutes every year named 'Oliver Queen contemplating murder for -minutes'. most of the clips are from parties, when Oliver is taking to someone and the second they turn their back he just glares at them.

Gotham has the crazy people that dress up in organized uniforms and have the big thought out schemes. Starling has the serial killers.

[moredifferentthanusual]

im sorry because i know my thoughts should be focused on palestine right now. but i can't stop thinking about what all this means for the future. my parents, my grandparents, me, we've all taken for granted a world where even in war there are rules adhered to. there have always been war crimes but in general all across the world it was safe to shelter in schools, temples, hospitals. anyone bearing the red cross/crescent could be trusted. no side would disguise their soldiers as humanitarian aid and invade a refugee camp

palestine will be free, but even when it is those rules of war will still have changed. now we know the US will not abide by the geneva convention who can risk following it? my children will live in a world with a free palestine one day, but they will never get to live in a world where shelters, medics, and aid mean safety. and every death caused by this rewriting of the rules of war is directly attributable to israel and the US's genocide

[poisonousquinzel]

"a dude in Texas legally changed his name to "Literally Anyone Else" and he's attempting to run for President against Biden & Trump" [source]

okay, but putting aside the comedic aspect of this, it is concerning the amount of people who are prompted to vote for candidates just because it's funny. I'm not the biggest fan of how his policy about the boarder sounds [Site], but I do implore anyone who is able to vote in the 2024 US election to please research other candidates.

The media is only going to continue pushing the idea it's inevitably going to be Trump vs Biden 2.0 and we have no other options, that we have to vote for Biden again because of Project 2025. Is that whole thing terrifying?

Yeah, fucking absolutely.

But voting for Biden will not solidify our safety from that. Biden is exactly like the rest of them. He always has been. You can't make the lesser of two evils argument when they're both just plain evil.

You cannot say that Biden is even mildly a better choice than Trump when he is currently directly involved in a genocide. That is not some little fucking thing. That in and of itself disqualifies him as a lesser evil. Biden is just as bad as him and he will not save us because he doesn't fucking care.

Cornel West [Site] is an Independent candidate running for President in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia [Site] are running for President and Vice-President as the candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

There are options.

There are people trying to change the corrupt foundation our system is built on, but we have to help amplify them because the mainstream media will not.

[frogeyedape]

I am so unbelievably pissed off. FUCK HOAs

Oh, my trash/recycling bin can't be visible except on pickup day? Ok whatever fine I hate you but I can deal with this

Weekly inspections?????? FU FU FU FU FU

SECOND NOTICE ALSO WE'RE CHARGING YOU MONEY TO SEND YOU CERTIFIED MAIL OF THIS TOTALLY LEGIT TOTALLY SECOND NOTICE OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY A VIOLATION cue me: checks notes. Hmm. My recycling bin was. on the curb. on recycling pickup day. You know. The day it has to be out. The day it is motherfucking ALLOWED TO BE FUCKING OUT AND VISIBLE.

so. 1) not a violation

I have sent them the trash AND recycling pickup schedules, which are DIFFERENT, btw

I have disputed the fact of the violation

I have disputed the linking of this "violation" to a previous violation MONTHS AGO--their "first notice" in this case was a "Courtesy Notice" LITERALLY 5 MONTHS AGO and they've done so many inspections since then and my bin CLEARLY WASN'T OUT IN THOSE INTERVENING MONTHS so WTMFH

So I am posting like a crazy person here instead of sending the absolutely deranged email I almost sent (I did send a slightly less deranged version with the disputes, and requesting a hearing)

OMG. It has been. Less than one hour since I learned this fun fun news. My bin was out YESTERDAY, y'all. YESTERDAY. I am going to blow a gasket

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

You can view the data HERE

Also...

[lgbtlunaverse]

"Racism is different in Europe" is basically only ever used to imply that Europe is less racist than America, or that things that are racist in the us are actually not racist in Europe, when quite frankly it should really be used in the opposite way. Like to dunk on the Americans that keep insisting with their entire chest that Romani people are "basically white" because they look pale enough for them.

[jangillman]

[silvermoon424]

When the manga you're reading makes it clear that the mangaka has some interesting opinions on Chinese immigrants and WWII reparations

[girlactionfigure]

[frameacloud]

Chantelle Billson (February 25, 2024). "Nex Benedict: Candlelit vigils across US see ‘huge turnouts standing for love.’" PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/25/nex-benedict-candlelit-vigils-across-us-see-huge-turnouts-standing-for-love/

Excerpt: "In a video released on Friday (23 February), Benedict told police they were attacked by three girls. They recall the girls beating them until they 'blacked out'. Following the tragic death of Benedict, vigils have been held across the US ..."

[hideyseek]

oh my god i just counted and in 16 minutes of tv i have amassed 119 flashcards of terms i didn't know

[tomorrowusa]

News you won't find on Fox News or other far right outlets.

Official crime statistics are only released after a substantial delay, so for nearly a decade I’ve collected and compiled big-city crime data as a way to assemble a more real-time picture of national murder trends. And this spring, I’ve found something that I’ve never seen before and that probably has not happened in decades: strong evidence of a sharp and broad decline in the nation’s murder rate. The United States may be experiencing one of the largest annual percent changes in murder ever recorded, according to my preliminary data. It is still early in the year and the trend could change over the second half of the year, but data from a sufficiently large sample of big cities have typically been a good predictor of the year-end national change in murder, even after only five months.

It's in the interests of extremist Republicans to get white people in particular to think that out of control minorities are out to murder them. So when crime goes down, the GOP ramps up other things like culture war issues.

Murder is down about 12 percent year-to-date in more than 90 cities that have released data for 2023, compared with data as of the same date in 2022. Big cities tend to slightly amplify the national trend—a 5 percent decline in murder rates in big cities would likely translate to a smaller decline nationally. But even so, the drop shown in the preliminary data is astonishing.

True, there is still the sensational murder here or there which will get a disproportionate amount of coverage. But murder rates across the board are down notably.

[T]he good news is, well, good. Murder is down 13 percent in New York City, and shootings are down 25 percent, relative to last year as of late May. Murder is down more than 20 percent in Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia. And, most significantly, murder is down 30 percent—30 percent!—or more in Jackson, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and others.

The last significant drop in crime took place in the 1990s during the Clinton administration.

The cause of the Great Crime Decline of the 1990s, when murder fell 37 percent over six years, is still not fully understood, so any explanations of the current trend must remain in the hypothesis phase for now.

I hate to rub it in, but there seems to be at least a modest correlation. In the 1970s and 1980s when 16 of those 20 years were under Republican administrations, the crime rate in the US soared. The crime decline of the 1990s and the current murder nosedive are under Democratic administrations.

The current dip is despite the number of police officers being the same or just slightly down.

Murder is down in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York, for example, but Chicago’s number of police officers is virtually unchanged from last summer, while New Orleans’s is down more than 8 percent and New York has roughly 2 percent fewer officers. The end of the emergency phase of the coronavirus pandemic may also be contributing to the decline in murder.

The murder rate went up during the COVID-19 emergency. Perhaps that's another result of Donald Trump's botched handling of the pandemic.

It's been finally dawning on people that Republicans aren't great for the economy. Eventually it may also become conventional wisdom that the GOP is bad for public safety.

When the de facto leader of the Republican Party is an indicted lying crook with the mindset of a petty mobster, that sends a message to American society that such behavior is acceptable. No wonder criminal behavior is down since Trump's departure from office.

No honest person can call the GOP the party of "law and order" any more.