Two more things to read [news]

[rebeccmeister]

It's important to learn about examples where people have been successful in reducing violent crime. The methods might not be all that surprising, and yet there are still many places that could stand to better implement some of what's described in this article about Baltimore.

https://popular.info/p/the-secret-to-baltimores-extraordinary


Next up, today I encountered an essay by the Tufts graduate student who was abducted by federal agents because she had helped write an op-ed in the student newspaper. In this essay, she has written much more extensively about her experiences in "detainment" in this country - as someone who was ultimately released relatively expediently because the charges against her were horribly flimsy. Accounts like hers are important to read, because many of the people who go through experiences like hers never have a chance to be heard.

https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025/07/op-ed-even-god-cannot-hear-us-here-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison

Who owns these prisons, anyway?

Comments

[annikusrex]

yes! and i wonder if the successful baltimore school break/afterschool activities are funded at all by the money trump just cut off. "The funding that has been paused includes grants for after-school care, student support, English language and adult education, among other programs." https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gop-senators-urge-trump-administration-reverse-6-billion/story?id=123818538

[twoeleven]

Hm. Looks like the data are complicated, with multiple causes at play (and probably some at work, too. :) ). Expect either a longer comment or a post over the weekend.

[altamira16]

Scott does good things for Baltimore, but the trend is bigger than Baltimore.

Overall, murder is down in a lot of places. It is being credited to one man and one philosophy here.

Remember how they kept crediting that dude with the "broken windows" theory with decline of violence in NYC? It feels like that even though the philosophy is different.

It seems like the Vera Institute does good work towards reducing bias in policing.

[rebeccmeister]

Really great points! Thank you. You are probably at least partially correct, regarding Baltimore and broader trends. It is so tricky to determine true cause-and-effect in the messy real world. I do agree, regarding the Vera Institute.