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"Reconstructing Justice"
Excellent new @NiskanenCenter report from CUNY's Michael Fortner unpacks the generational divide behind calls to defund the police, and the "complex, and sometimes contradictory, internal politics of public safety within African American communities." https://twitter.com/ProfFortner/status/1311685924422660099
Excellent new @NiskanenCenter report from CUNY's Michael Fortner unpacks the generational divide behind calls to defund the police, and the "complex, and sometimes contradictory, internal politics of public safety within African American communities." https://twitter.com/ProfFortner/status/1311685924422660099
Support for defunding the police splits primarily not on racial lines, but on young / old lines.
As Fortner notes, calls from young BLM activists to overhaul if not abolish traditional policing received some of the strongest pushback from Black leaders of an earlier generation.
As Fortner notes, calls from young BLM activists to overhaul if not abolish traditional policing received some of the strongest pushback from Black leaders of an earlier generation.
Fortner rejects "assuming a coherent 'Black perspective' on policing."
African American attitudes grew increasingly punitive towards crime in response to rising violence in Black communities, up to the early 1990s.
Yet many scholars have dismissed this as "false consciousness."
African American attitudes grew increasingly punitive towards crime in response to rising violence in Black communities, up to the early 1990s.
Yet many scholars have dismissed this as "false consciousness."
African American support for the death penalty, for example, hit a high of 59 percent in 1985, before falling to 42 percent in 2005.
The share of Blacks who believed criminal defendants were treated ânot harshly enough" only fell below 75% in the 2000s!
The share of Blacks who believed criminal defendants were treated ânot harshly enough" only fell below 75% in the 2000s!
Black support for stronger & more punitive policing wasn't false consciousness.
In the quest for public safety, it was a rational response to rising crime and violence in their own back yard.
Circa 1994, ~75% of Blacks favored building new prisons even if it meant higher taxes.
In the quest for public safety, it was a rational response to rising crime and violence in their own back yard.
Circa 1994, ~75% of Blacks favored building new prisons even if it meant higher taxes.
As Peter Enns meticulously documents in Incarceration Nation, the bipartisan "tough on crime" reforms that created America's carceral state were closely linked to the crime wave.
Refracted through the American political system, punitive measures beat-out non-punitive ones.
Refracted through the American political system, punitive measures beat-out non-punitive ones.
The collapse in crime in the late '90s created a schism between younger and older generations. It's key to understanding why today's police reform debate has pit a "Black majority increasingly committed to policing" against "a Black minority increasingly committed to its end."
