Republicans Insist Most Gun Violence Happens in Democratic Cities – The Figures Tell a Different Story

Between 2008 and 2014, 21 of 33 states with sufficient gun violence data showed equal or greater gun violence in rural areas compared with large metro areas, according to an analysis from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice — even in favoured GOP punching bags like Californa and Illinois. Continue reading Republicans Insist Most Gun Violence Happens in Democratic Cities – The Figures Tell a Different Story

Massive Crime Spike Stems from Social Unrest, COVID Lockdowns Destabilizing Communities: Expert

Professor Jeffrey Butts, the director of John Jay College’s Research and Evaluation Center, said that in some respects conservatives and liberals are on the same page with gun control. “The far left and the far right are actually pitching the same story,” he said. Continue reading Massive Crime Spike Stems from Social Unrest, COVID Lockdowns Destabilizing Communities: Expert

Crime Statistics and Politics are a Deadly Mix

“Sadly, I’ve dedicated my life to using facts and data to influence crime policy. I don’t think we’re any better at it than we were 30 years ago,” Butts said. He has seen both Democrats and Republicans try to use crime stats to scare voters. It’s hard to stop them because “politics was way out ahead of information and the facts.” Continue reading Crime Statistics and Politics are a Deadly Mix

No, Biden did not call Black people “superpredators”

Violent crimes committed by juveniles rose a precipitous 64 percent from 1980 to 1994 according to a March 2002 study by the Urban Institute’s Jeffrey Butts and Jeremy Travis. This figure includes forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, but to underscore the horror of this era, arrests for murder alone “jumped 99 percent during that time.” Continue reading No, Biden did not call Black people “superpredators”

Trump’s ‘Law and Order’ : Ignoring Facts as he Plays to Fears

Trump isn’t the first national politician to poke at those anxieties. George Wallace, Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all raised fears of crime, said Jeffrey Butts, who directs the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Continue reading Trump’s ‘Law and Order’ : Ignoring Facts as he Plays to Fears