tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post5805630867483280476..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Surveillance cameras and crimeGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-41412141409078478862008-05-16T20:35:00.000-05:002008-05-16T20:35:00.000-05:00could it be that cctv is just a feel-good panacea ...could it be that cctv is just a feel-good panacea for the populace?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-46428850236889689772008-05-16T12:02:00.000-05:002008-05-16T12:02:00.000-05:00This is off-topic, but with Grit's interest in pro...This is off-topic, but with Grit's interest in problems of Texas law enforcement and prisons, I think him and his readers will be interested in these pointers.<BR/><BR/>It turns out that our huge incarceration rate doesn't have much to do with reducing the crime rate. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has a paper by Jessica Wolpaw Reyes which demonstrates that eliminating lead in gasoline was responsible for a 56% reduction in violent crime. Her paper is at Amherst, the following TinyURL http://tinyurl.com/3zbq77 in case readers are interested.<BR/><BR/>My source is J. Bradford DeLong's economic blog http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/05/crime-and-punis.html or in Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/4dfzpt for interpretation.<BR/><BR/>DeLong couples this report with the work of Steve Leavitt, at the Univ of Chicago who argues that legalizing abortion is responsible for another 29% reduction in violent crime. For a summary of Leavitt's argument see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Levitt.<BR/><BR/>DeLong adds the percentages up to get 85% reduction in violent crime due to unleaded gas and legalized abortion together. <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure you can simply add percentages and get a valid number. In fact, you can't, so 85% is not valid arithmetic. But DeLong's larger point should be that incarceration for long terms is at best a minor cause for reduction of violent crime.<BR/><BR/>Just thought you all would be interested.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-20546144567070548442008-05-16T11:30:00.000-05:002008-05-16T11:30:00.000-05:00Aw, Fred, that's just wrong. I blame you, as the m...Aw, Fred, that's just wrong. I blame you, as the messenger. ;)<BR/><BR/>Oh wait, no, I actually blame the Pentagon for collaborating with totalitarian Communists to perfect Big Brother.<BR/><BR/>Just imagine what Roy Cohn, "Uncle Joe" McCarthy, Barry Goldwater Sidney Hook, and all the Commie-haters from Cold War era would think if they'd lived to see this news! Unreal.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-16806315966954226082008-05-16T09:47:00.000-05:002008-05-16T09:47:00.000-05:00CHINA'S ALL-SEEING EYE U.S. Contractors Have Helpe...<A HREF="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye" REL="nofollow">CHINA'S ALL-SEEING EYE U.S. Contractors Have Helped China Build a High-Tech Police State – and It's Ready for Export </A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com