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Homicide is the only statistic that's a reliable indicator of international crime rates, and the best regions (states) of the US are barely comparable to those of other developed nations. This isn't a recent development, but the latest figures don't change that despite long term improvements.
Nor is it merely a matter of the rate, you barely clear half your homicide cases, which is typically what you see in countries that lack either the resources or the institutions to tackle crime effectively at all.
Homicide cases usually being a priority.
The policies of incarcerating more people per capita than any other nation, and declaring an international war on drugs, clearly hasn't worked for you. It's not even a matter of your privatisation of incarceration (as bad as that might be), since that only accounts for @8% of your prison population.
We really don’t put enough effort into prevention, imo. Not talking about deterrence via punishment (we’ve got that in spades), but quality of life, education, health care, infrastructure, all contributors to the incentive to commit crimes in a market economy.
We really don’t put enough effort into prevention, imo. Not talking about deterrence via punishment (we’ve got that in spades), but quality of life, education, health care, infrastructure, all contributors to the incentive to commit crimes in a market economy.
I think we want to improve all that stuff for other reasons, but I'm not convinced that it would make a noticeable impact on crime, even though it makes some logical sense (that is, the explanation adds up, but it doesn't seem well-supported by the data). I think we should be looking at increased police presence along with better relations with communities (cops should be visibly around but friendly), more cameras, and we can still get more juice out of lead abatement.
I think we want to improve all that stuff for other reasons, but I'm not convinced that it would make a noticeable impact on crime, even though it makes some logical sense (that is, the explanation adds up, but it doesn't seem well-supported by the data). I think we should be looking at increased police presence along with better relations with communities (cops should be visibly around but friendly), more cameras, and we can still get more juice out of lead abatement.
We’ve discussed this before and I think I agree pretty much entirely with your take on police and punishment. The obvious Sherdog retort is “why not both?”. Also, poverty and crime are statistically linked. I guess the biggest question (in my mind) is, would efforts to improve those areas I mentioned actually result in less poverty, greater distribution of resources, healthier and smarter people, lower population density, etc.
You'll find that policy by policy, everything the left proposes is extremely popular... your side has to resort to incoherent screeching about woke this, woke that because without the culture war bullshit the right may as well not exist.
Right, but I think that's the reason for the misconception. Homicides are all reported so we look at that, but in the particular case of the U.S., that approach is flawed because we have extremely high gun-ownership rates, meaning that our homicide rates are much higher relative to other crimes.
Longer prison sentences are the biggest contributor to the high prison population, and I agree that that is bad and should be fixed. Higher rates of success for the cops do more to reduce crime that harsher sentencing for people who do get caught.
It's not just the reporting, it's the consistency in definition, primarily which crimes are lumped together. We could have similar cases of "assault", but in some nations that can be walking up to someone and verbally abusing them, as opposed to that falling under a definition such as "harrassment" or not being criminal it at all. Similar definition and reporting issues with sexual assault and property crimes. Homicide is reported and defined consistently, as well as usually being a priority for law enforcement.
Reporting rates for other crimes are essentially impossible to quantify of course.
People are also notoriously bad at estimating things like crime rates, which is why we see people conflating protests on television and online in other regions with increased crime rates locally.
Myself included in those issues of awareness for that matter. I've lived in Port Moresby (and not in a fortified compound), and I thought it was fine. I'd live there again.
...but sure, the police up the road did get into a shoot out with the army after they'd arrested a soldier for public intoxication, and a group of highlanders did execute someone in the intersection next to where I lived for failing to pay them for lifting up the truck he'd crashed. So you'd see or hear about the occasional crime (and no, I didn't spend any time in the worst areas of the shanty settlements, or no doubt I'd have seen and heard a lot more). Consistently in the bottom three of "livable cities" world wide though (still less homicide than St Louis or Baltimore).
I don't see how you can look at high rates of homicide with low rates of clearance for homicide, but the highest incarceration rates in the world, in an extremely wealth country, as anything but an utter political failure to meaningfully address crime.
It's not an issue that's partisan either. The major policies of your parties on crime through the late '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000's weren't all that different on incarceration rates, the war on drugs etc.
It's not just the reporting, it's the consistency in definition, primarily which crimes are lumped together. We could have similar cases of "assault", but in some nations that can be walking up to someone and verbally abusing them, as opposed to that falling under a definition such as "harrassment" or not being criminal it at all. Similar definition and reporting issues with sexual assault and property crimes. Homicide is reported and defined consistently, as well as usually being a priority for law enforcement.
Reporting rates for other crimes are essentially impossible to quantify of course.
People are also notoriously bad at estimating things like crime rates, which is why we see people conflating protests on television and online in other regions with increased crime rates locally.
Myself included in those issues of awareness for that matter. I've lived in Port Moresby (and not in a fortified compound), and I thought it was fine. I'd live there again.
...but sure, the police up the road did get into a shoot out with the army after they'd arrested a soldier for public intoxication, and a group of highlanders did execute someone in the intersection next to where I lived for failing to pay them for lifting up the truck he'd crashed. So you'd see or hear about the occasional crime (and no, I didn't spend any time in the worst areas of the shanty settlements, or no doubt I'd have seen and heard a lot more). Consistently in the bottom three of "livable cities" world wide though (still less homicide than St Louis or Baltimore).
I don't see how you can look at high rates of homicide with low rates of clearance for homicide, but the highest incarceration rates in the world, in an extremely wealth country, as anything but an utter political failure to meaningfully address crime.
It's not an issue that's partisan either. The major policies of your parties on crime through the late '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000's weren't all that different on incarceration rates, the war on drugs etc.
Again, there is a good reason to focus on homicide for international or historical comparisons, but there's also a big U.S.-specific flaw in that that causes the U.S. rate to be overstated if you're using homicide as a proxy for violent crime in general. People who have attempted to adjust for that have concluded that U.S. crime rates are in the normal range for a developed country. Also not disagreeing with you about bad policing or incarceration policy.
The first point is important for this discussion because if one country is well behind comparable ones, it can easily improve by copying more-effective approaches. But if you're trying to improve from the expected number, it might require some innovation.
We really don’t put enough effort into prevention, imo. Not talking about deterrence via punishment (we’ve got that in spades), but quality of life, education, health care, infrastructure, all contributors to the incentive to commit crimes in a market economy.
Well sure, the US has never exactly promoted egalitarianism, and I don't think there's anywhere on earth where massive disparities in wealth and the capacity for social participation (social mobility etc) in close geographic proximity aren't correlated with high rates of crime, and violent crime in particular.
Again, there is a good reason to focus on homicide for international or historical comparisons, but there's also a big U.S.-specific flaw in that that causes the U.S. rate to be overstated if you're using homicide as a proxy for violent crime in general. People who have attempted to adjust for that have concluded that U.S. crime rates are in the normal range for a developed country. Also not disagreeing with you about bad policing or incarceration policy.
The first point is important for this discussion because if one country is well behind comparable ones, it can easily improve by copying more-effective approaches. But if you're trying to improve from the expected number, it might require some innovation.
Well I don't think saying "homicide is just an exception, things are fine" is likely to be supportable, when it's not only the homicide rate, but the low rate of clearance, combined with the incarceration rate, and the fact that these are the only objective points of comparison.
I guess I'll have to look at what exactly these "attempts to adjust for it" amount to, but I'm naturally suspicious that people discounting the only reliable metric and saying, "sure lots of people are getting murdered and we lock everyone up forever, but our crime is otherwise normal" will inevitably turn out to be bullshit.
Well I don't think saying "homicide is just an exception, things are fine" is likely to be supportable, when it's not only the homicide rate, but the low rate of clearance, combined with the incarceration rate, and the fact that these are the only objective points of comparison.
I guess I'll have to look at what exactly these "attempts to adjust for it" amount to, but I'm naturally suspicious that people discounting the only reliable metric and saying, "sure lots of people are getting murdered and we lock everyone up forever, but our crime is otherwise normal" will inevitably turn out to be bullshit.
The point is not that homicide is fine or something; it's that the overall crime rate in the U.S. appears normal for a developed country--the murder problem (and, again, no one is saying it is not a problem) is a result of the very high gun ownership rates, which is a different issue and a much harder one to deal with that if we'd just been uniformly poor at reducing crime.
All those politicians staying at Mar A Lago, I am sure Donny picked up putting cameras in the room trick from Ukraines bitch, Putin.
That’s how Donny got Falwell Jr’s endorsement from Fled Cruz, he had receipts of Falwell Jr spanking it the corner while the pool boy drill pressed his wife. Rumor is Falwell Jr liked to dine on pool boy cream pie.
You'll find that policy by policy, everything the left proposes is extremely popular... your side has to resort to incoherent screeching about woke this, woke that because without the culture war bullshit the right may as well not exist.
What the left advertises vs what they really sell are completely different. They advertise flowers and sunshine then sell you communism, and the useful idiots of course buy it all up.
In the last 7 years, the left flushed decades of feminism down the drain to appease the hairy dicked mentally ill dudes wearing dresses lobby. Y'all screech about women's rights, you can't even define what a woman is anymore. All this talk about gay rights, gays are now starting to become the bigots in your religion's ever-increasing derangement.
For all of history, marriage and the nuclear family created and stabilized society. The woke religion, if you try to take it literally, is an incoherent mess. If you see it for what it truly is, it's to sow division and break apart western civilization at the seams. Normal people want to keep their freedoms, you might want to sell yours for the illusion of safety and inclusion but there's nothing inclusive or safe about it. It's woke communism or GTFO to them.
As far as charges you'll have to ask Barr. The obstruction was supposedly legal because maybe Trump felt he was being victimized. In reality though he was pushing for a Trump Tower in Moscow, Junior loved the idea of Russian government help during the election, Trump literally asked for Russian help while campaigning, not to mention the deference he paid Putin during his term. If you're still a Trump supporter after all that and Jan. 6th and the Big Lie I don't know what to say. If you let him Trump will squeeze you like a tube of tooth paste.
Now, with Trump’s private interactions the subject of a broader scandal after the release of a partial rough transcript of his July 25 conversation with Ukraine’s president, Trump’s conversations with Putin are being viewed with renewed interest.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) has said that Congress is particularly interested in finding the records of Trump’s calls with Putin, especially if they had been stored in an unorthodox way. The Kremlin initially said it did not want the conversations made public, though Putin said Wednesday that he would not be against it.
Accounts of Trump’s private conversations with other senior Russian officials have already drawn criticism, including one in the Oval Office in 2017 in which Trump said he was unconcerned about Kremlin election interference. The remarks prompted the White House to limit access to the remarks, former officials told The Washington Post.
Below is a timeline of what is publicly known about Trump and Putin’s conversations through phone calls and in person.
Edit: I really hope we get to learn the details of the documents Trump was so concerned about hanging onto.
What the left advertises vs what they really sell are completely different. They advertise flowers and sunshine then sell you communism, and the useful idiots of course buy it all up.
In the last 7 years, the left flushed decades of feminism down the drain to appease the hairy dicked mentally ill dudes wearing dresses lobby. Y'all screech about women's rights, you can't even define what a woman is anymore. All this talk about gay rights, gays are now starting to become the bigots in your religion's ever-increasing derangement.
For all of history, married and the nuclear family created and stabilized society. The woke religion, if you try to take it literally, is an incoherent mess. If you see it for what it truly is, it's to sow division and break apart western civilization at the seams. Normal people want to keep their freedoms, you might want to sell yours for the illusion of safety and inclusion but there's nothing inclusive or safe about it. It's woke communism or GTFO to them.
Lol the head of Christian Nationalism is a serial adulterer. After the 2nd affair her husband decided to haul ass. I guess if your wife is having a long-term affair with a dude that looks like Zangief from Street Fighter it is time to haul ass because the vows she took before God means nothing to her.
Trump serial adulterer. Herschel Walker serial abortion payer and wife beater.
The hypocrisy started with the Pearl Clutching by Newt and Mark Sanford over William Jefferson using his intern as a humidor, and then finding out Newt Cheating on his cancer riddled wife, and Sanford pretending to be lost on the Appalachian Trail but was in Argentina banging Argentian ass. Family Values indeed. How about you don't tell me how to live my life when you can't even live yours properly.
They advertise family values, but reality its Falwell Jr, sitting in the corner whacking it to his wife getting drill pressed by the Pool Boy.
What the left advertises vs what they really sell are completely different. They advertise flowers and sunshine then sell you communism, and the useful idiots of course buy it all up.
In the last 7 years, the left flushed decades of feminism down the drain to appease the hairy dicked mentally ill dudes wearing dresses lobby. Y'all screech about women's rights, you can't even define what a woman is anymore. All this talk about gay rights, gays are now starting to become the bigots in your religion's ever-increasing derangement.
For all of history, marriage and the nuclear family created and stabilized society. The woke religion, if you try to take it literally, is an incoherent mess. If you see it for what it truly is, it's to sow division and break apart western civilization at the seams. Normal people want to keep their freedoms, you might want to sell yours for the illusion of safety and inclusion but there's nothing inclusive or safe about it. It's woke communism or GTFO to them.
Lol the head of Christian Nationalism is a serial adulterer. After the 2nd affair her husband decided to haul ass. I guess if your wife is having a long-term affair with a dude that looks like Zangief from Street Fighter it is time to haul ass because the vows she took before God means nothing to her.
Trump serial adulterer. Herschel Walker serial abortion payer and wife beater.
The hypocrisy started with the Pearl Clutching by Newt and Mark Sanford over William Jefferson using his intern as a humidor, and then finding out Newt Cheating on his cancer riddled wife, and Sanford pretending to be lost on the Appalachian Trail but was in Argentina banging Argentian ass. Family Values indeed. How about you don't tell me how to live my life when you can't even live yours properly.
They advertise family values, but reality its Falwell Jr, sitting in the corner whacking it to his wife getting drill pressed by the Pool Boy.
They're politicians and public figures and they come and go, so a few hypocrites in the system doesn't change the recipe to what makes a prosperous nation.
A strong culture and well bonded families build and stabilize society. If you're a commie who wants to tear it apart, start getting men and women to fight each other and start brainwashing children into become revolutionary activists. Sorry leftists, I'm not buying the communism you're selling. Never will. While the MAGA brand took a huge PR hit, it's principles are still worth fighting for.
Violence/Genocide: Do not condone violence or genocide on a person or group of people. You are free to attack a person or groups ideas but you are crossing the line when calling for violence. This will be heavily enforced in threads with breaking news involving victims.
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