IN 2011, 9 out of 10 people targeted in the controversial stop-and-frisk program utilized by the New York Police Department were African-American or Hispanic. The city’s population is 23 percent African-American, 29 percent Hispanic, and 34 percent non-Hispanic white. Indeed, whites were the only demographic that was frisked at a proportion far below its percentage of the population: Only 9 percent of those stopped were white.
The NYPD has held strong to the belief that the program prevents crime and enhances public confidence. Whose confidence is a separate question, as the NYPD faces angry outcries and lawsuits. But the traditional civil-liberties-versus-public-safety argument is actually the wrong prism through which to evaluate this program.
Comments
David Kennedy in Don't Shoot, his book about the "Boston miracle" and other instances of his crime reduction methods spends a chapter complaining about "broken windows." I always found that chapter comoelling.
Stephen Pinker also spends a chapter on broken windows and other anti crime methods in his book Better Nature of Ourselves, his study in what he describes as the steady reduction in violence since the beggings of the Enlightenment.
I'd sure love to know what these guys think of Greenberg's findings. By way, where is Greenberg published?
Anyone in the "buisness" knows that crime is cyclical. When there is a large number of punks of crime committing age (13-20) there will be more crime. These kids will either end up in jai, dead or outgrow their criminal behaviour. When the children of those punks reach crime committing age, there will be another spike in crime. These strategies do work wonders for one group of people though. That is the lucky PERF chief that happens to be in command at the beginning of the down swing.
jail
I love it when people who live hundreds of miles from NYC comment on NYC crime. But that's still no excuse in the Internet age for not doing your homework. Hey Jules, did you know 73% of the shootings in NYC are by blacks? And that they constitute 65.3% of stops and frisks?
You could actually argue that blacks are getting off easy in the stop and frisk program, at least based on the data. And before you cry racism, remember that nearly all of the victims of these shootings are also black.
I realize that just mentioning this data is considered a thought crime in this day and age. But you're writing about race so it seems apt.
Here's an interesting resource for you to read and digest before you write more on stops and frisks in NYC.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/crime_and_enforcement_activity_jan_to_jun_2012.pdf
Or you can read Heather MacDonald's stuff. She's an expert on this topic.
She also doesn't point out whether or not the stops were constitutionally lawful. Were they based on reasonable suspicion (the accepted level of proof articulated in Terry V. Ohio)? Lots of holes in this story.