You owe it to yourself to read long-time blogosphere stalwart Radley Balko’s Washington Post op-ed on the systemic racism of the criminal justice system. It covers territory he’s been working for years but it’s nicely collected in the op-ed. He opens with a solid definition of “systemic racism” as applied to the criminal justice system:
Of particular concern to some on the right is the term “systemic racism,†often wrongly interpreted as an accusation that everyone in the system is racist. In fact, systemic racism means almost the opposite. It means that we have systems and institutions that produce racially disparate outcomes, regardless of the intentions of the people who work within them.
and follows that with a link-filled list of studies including studies that contradict the view that the criminal justice system is systemically racist. Included are sections on
- Policing and profiling
- Misdemeanors, petty crimes and driver’s license suspensions
- The drug war
- Juries and jury selection
- The death penalty
- Prosecutors, discretion and plea bargaining
- Judges and sentencing
- School suspensions and the school-to-prison pipeline
- Prison, incarceration and solitary confinement
- Bail, pretrial detention, commutations and pardons, gangs and other issues
- The dissent — contrarian studies on race and the criminal-justice system
It seems to me that if you accept Mr. Balko’s conclusions you are inevitably driven to the conclusion that the move to “defund the police” is misguided because the problem does not merely reside with the police but with the entire system of which they are just one part and that stopping at police reform will not actually solve the problem. Why not “defund the judiciary”? Or “defund the states attorneys”?
IMO the necessary reforms are along the lines I’ve been suggesting for some time. Presidents, governors, mayors, legislators at all levels, judges, prosecutors, police officers, and everyone else in the system need to see themselves as enforcing the law rather than imposing order. To accomplish that the incentives from one end of the system to the other need to change. Systemic problems require systemic change. Failing that and if the reforms are focused only within police forces inevitably police forces will return to the status quo ante because that is the thrust of the system.
Among the things that means is that we need a much more limited view of criminal law and its enforcement. Accountability is key. Ending qualified immunity but protecting jurisdictions themselves from suit is an important component in that.
Been reading Balko for a long time. Like him as he takes a comprehensive approach. While he understands cthatour system provides disparate outcomes he also shows that a lot of what we do is flawed and just doesnt make sense. No knock raids kill and harm innocent people frequently, get pets killed all so some drugs dont get flushed. He puts into words better what I have been trying to say, that while it is clear that the hug4 majority of people working in the system are not racist, they manage to produce the results that you would have if there was racism.
Also, I hope you read Tabarrok’s piece today. He has dome good work in this area. We spend less, quite a bit less, on police and much more on incarceration that most countries. He points out that we have a system with a low probability offing caught if you commit a crime, but a high level of punishment if you are caught. He suggests that if we spent less on incarceration and more on police we could have a system where it is much more likely you get caught but have lesser punishments, which might be more likely to reduce crime.
Steve
That’s very different from Japan, for example, where the likelihood of being caught if you commit a crime is quite high. Consequently, they assume that criminals are stupid. I have frequently noted that it’s surprising we’re as crime-free as we are. Practically nobody gets caught.
Tabarrok’s piece is interesting, particularly this passage:
What I don’t think he recognizes is the “catch and release” problem of American law enforcement which ties in well to the point I made in the body of the post. By the time a criminal is actually convicted of something, received an actual sentence, and goes to jail, he (generally a he) may have been arrested or at least detained dozens or even hundreds of times. That’s a consequence of discretion at all levels. I think it would be much better if there were punishment at all levels with increasing severity rather than extreme laxity in the early stages and extreme severity later on.
I think I probably disagree with Dr. Tabarrok about the sources of crime. I don’t think that comparing the U. S. with the ethnic states of Europe is a reasonable comparison. I think we should be compared with Brazil or Mexico.
One of our problems as I have noted repeatedly is lack of social cohesion.
One point I should add is that the median pay of a police officer in Japan (¥6 million) compares pretty favorably with the median pay of a police officer in Chicago. That’s about half again the median household income in Japan is (¥4 million). In Chicago a police officer earns about half again ($83K) what the median Chicago household earns ($58K). And when you include the generous pension it’s even more grotesque. Said another way we simply can’t afford to pay more. Our problem is not that we’re not paying enough; it’s that we’re not receiving value for what we’re paying.
“Our problem is not that we’re not paying enough; it’s that we’re not receiving value for what we’re paying.”
Pay is highly variable from place to place. Still, I think there is a case to be made we are spending it in the wrong places. Too much on incarceration. Not enough on mental health. Too much on military equipment for the police. Not enough for the number of police patrolling.
Steve
I comment on Chicago because I know the most about it and it concerns me directly. I leave commenting on other places to the people who live there. I also like specifics more than broad strokes.
Spending too much on military equipment is not that much of a problem for Chicago. Lack of accountability is a much graver problem.
WRT spending too much on incarceration, I have already commented. Criminalize less; remove discretion; stop forgiving crimes until we’re ready to put the offender away for a long sentence.