Police

The Consequences of Bad Leadership: the Baltimore Riots of 2015

Last postI talked about what didn’t cause the 2015 riots in Baltimore. Well, what did? Macro theory too often assumes happenings and history are per-ordained, that leadership decisions don’t have consequences, and that individuals have no free will. But what if the buses kept running? What if police continued to disperse crowds in the street instead of retreating? What if…

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Police

“A small price to pay”?

Last postI presented the depressing fact that at current level of violence, the chance for a man in Baltimore’s Western District to live to age of 35 without being murdered is just 93% [updated to include 2018 data]. Yes, more than 7 percent of black men in the Western District will be murdered unless Baltimore can get a grip on…

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Police

Too much to bear

Back when I wrote Cop in the Hood, I was horrified to figure out that 11.6 percent of men in the Eastern District were being murdered (see the footnote on pp. 219-222). [Updated to include 2018 data and more accurate population figures.] From 2015 through 2018, 226 people were murdered in Baltimore’s Western District. 145 were black men age 18…

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