News (Media Awareness Project) - US: LTE: Cracking Down On Crime - The Numbers Don't Lie |
| Title: | US: LTE: Cracking Down On Crime - The Numbers Don't Lie |
| Published On: | 2000-09-04 |
| Source: | Business Week (US) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-03 09:59:56 |
CRACKING DOWN ON CRIME - THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE
Two letters from readers took exception to "Tough justice is saving our inner cities" (Economic Viewpoint, July 17) by claiming that police are merely cracking down on harmless drug users. This couldn't be further from the truth.
The crimes the police are diligently reducing are shown in the Justice Dept. document NCJ175687, Table 16. For year-end 1997 (the latest compilation available) the table lists 1,100,500 persons sentenced for all crimes and 227,400, or 21%, of these for drug offenses. Regarding blacks, the table lists 511,700 blacks sentenced in state courts for all crimes and only 127,700, or 25% of these for drug offenses.
"Violent offenses" such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and assault accounted for 47% of all those sentenced and 48% of blacks. These are hardly the "nonviolent drug offenses" these letter writers would have us believe the police are focusing upon.
The police risk their lives daily confronting very violent felons, not spaced-out drug users, and to hamper their efforts even my mouthing untruths is to help sentence the decent inhabitants of the inner city to an existence most of us encounter only in futuristic horror films.
Bruce Macintyre, Gladwin, Mich.
Two letters from readers took exception to "Tough justice is saving our inner cities" (Economic Viewpoint, July 17) by claiming that police are merely cracking down on harmless drug users. This couldn't be further from the truth.
The crimes the police are diligently reducing are shown in the Justice Dept. document NCJ175687, Table 16. For year-end 1997 (the latest compilation available) the table lists 1,100,500 persons sentenced for all crimes and 227,400, or 21%, of these for drug offenses. Regarding blacks, the table lists 511,700 blacks sentenced in state courts for all crimes and only 127,700, or 25% of these for drug offenses.
"Violent offenses" such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and assault accounted for 47% of all those sentenced and 48% of blacks. These are hardly the "nonviolent drug offenses" these letter writers would have us believe the police are focusing upon.
The police risk their lives daily confronting very violent felons, not spaced-out drug users, and to hamper their efforts even my mouthing untruths is to help sentence the decent inhabitants of the inner city to an existence most of us encounter only in futuristic horror films.
Bruce Macintyre, Gladwin, Mich.
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