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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2011 > May > 27
Friday, May 27, 2011
Editorial: Progress against crime transcends left-right debate
Despite the recession, crime is down nationwide. Other “despites” might be added to that sentence: despite cutbacks in police staff and despite cutbacks in the number of people in prison, at least in some places.
Crime is also down over the long term.
The situation gets more complicated when you look at specific communities and specific categories of crime. In some places, in some categories, crime is up. In Dayton in 2010, major crimes were down, but others were up, such as burglary. In 2011, gun crimes have been fewer in Dayton than in the previous four years. The drop is almost 20 percent since 2007; there were 152 by mid-May. This trend follows the adoption of the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence, which was instituted by the city’s then-new police chief, Richard Biehl. A student of successful programs elsewhere, he felt that focusing on a list of individuals known as particularly likely to commit gun crimes — and letting them know they were being watched — would pay off. Because the local drop coincides with the national trend, some might question whether local policies are the cause. However, there’s nothing to say that the national trend itself doesn’t result in some measure from improved police practices. Another trend: Just today the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank often described as left of center, is out with a study saying that, along with the long-term decline in crime since the peak of the crack cocaine epidemic, there’s been another national trend. The gap in crime rates between cities and suburbs is shrinking. Rates are coming down faster in the inner parts of metropolitan areas. Local officials are saying that — perhaps as a result of the Biehl initiative — some of the most troublesome people in the Dayton area have taken to the suburbs; but so far that hasn’t shown up in gun violence. Clearly, though, there are other new problems in the outlying areas. Some students of crime stats have been surprised, or at least struck, by the absence of a national crime surge during the recession. Others offer a possible explanation: the recession resulted in people being home more often, a deterrence to some kinds of crime. But these criminologists have long known that the causes of crime are complicated and not always obvious. What’s clear is that this society has substantial tools with which to assault the statistics. Again the word “despite” arises: Despite family breakdown, poverty, the prevalence of guns and the prevalence of violence in pop culture, progress is not out of the question. One of the beauties of the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence was that it jumped over the old left-right debate: tougher justice versus social justice. Do we need to put more people in prison faster, or do we need better drug treatment programs, more jobs and more outreach to potential offenders? The Biehl effort grew out of pragmatism, a focus on what works, out of experience and openness to the experience of others. In the mid-1990s, candidates for office were debating a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out law,” meaning three felony convictions must result in a life sentence. One serious and respected candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio called for a “one-strike” policy. Those kinds of proposals result from crime waves. Now the most conservative governor in decades is saying too many people are put in prison and that the expenses to the state aren’t worth it. The country has come a long way.
The situation gets more complicated when you look at specific communities and specific categories of crime. In some places, in some categories, crime is up.
In Dayton in 2010, major crimes were down, but others were up, such as burglary.
In 2011, gun crimes have been fewer in Dayton than in the previous four years. The drop is almost 20 percent since 2007; there were 152 by mid-May. This trend follows the adoption of the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence, which was instituted by the city’s then-new police chief, Richard Biehl.
A student of successful programs elsewhere, he felt that focusing on a list of individuals known as particularly likely to commit gun crimes — and letting them know they were being watched — would pay off.
Because the local drop coincides with the national trend, some might question whether local policies are the cause.
However, there’s nothing to say that the national trend itself doesn’t result in some measure from improved police practices.
Another trend: Just today the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank often described as left of center, is out with a study saying that, along with the long-term decline in crime since the peak of the crack cocaine epidemic, there’s been another national trend. The gap in crime rates between cities and suburbs is shrinking. Rates are coming down faster in the inner parts of metropolitan areas.
Local officials are saying that — perhaps as a result of the Biehl initiative — some of the most troublesome people in the Dayton area have taken to the suburbs; but so far that hasn’t shown up in gun violence.
Clearly, though, there are other new problems in the outlying areas.
Some students of crime stats have been surprised, or at least struck, by the absence of a national crime surge during the recession. Others offer a possible explanation: the recession resulted in people being home more often, a deterrence to some kinds of crime.
But these criminologists have long known that the causes of crime are complicated and not always obvious.
What’s clear is that this society has substantial tools with which to assault the statistics. Again the word “despite” arises:
Despite family breakdown, poverty, the prevalence of guns and the prevalence of violence in pop culture, progress is not out of the question.
One of the beauties of the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence was that it jumped over the old left-right debate: tougher justice versus social justice. Do we need to put more people in prison faster, or do we need better drug treatment programs, more jobs and more outreach to potential offenders?
The Biehl effort grew out of pragmatism, a focus on what works, out of experience and openness to the experience of others.
In the mid-1990s, candidates for office were debating a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out law,” meaning three felony convictions must result in a life sentence. One serious and respected candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio called for a “one-strike” policy. Those kinds of proposals result from crime waves.
Now the most conservative governor in decades is saying too many people are put in prison and that the expenses to the state aren’t worth it. The country has come a long way.
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