David Shuey
3 min readMar 10, 2021

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I wish I had a laugh emoji for your comments. You're so missing the mark. Again, you're moving the goal posts. "OK, it's not racism, it's POLICE killing too many people." Well guess what? POLICE ARE KILLING PEOPLE WHEN GUNS ARE PULLED ON THEM OR THREATS TO THEIR LIVES ARE MADE, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME.

BOTTOM LINE:

Murders went up 3,500 total last year. You're going to be hearing the number in Fall 2021 when they make it official, but the data is already out there. The data is clear:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WxxT6FjbrL7YQOn7eGnnYjnnLkgLaZzg3pRd44EdC3Y/edit#gid=2070815550

And you're going to cry about the 30-40 unarmed people killed a year, which will always happen? You're going to ignore the 2,000+ armed assaults on police a year? Does the UK have 2,000+ knife or gun assaults on police? Does Germany have 200+ police taking bullets every year, and 50+ succumbing to their wounds? THEY DO NOT.

So stop the comparison.

Prof. John Pfaff is yet another academic who has to keep his reputation in criminology by acknowledging reality (it's not the Drug War driving incarceration), but still arguing we have too many people involved in the Criminal Justice System, while ignoring the fact there's NO evidence I've seen that we're sending people to prison significantly longer than earlier decades. I even addressed him when folks were celebrating letting people out during COVID, which combined with the "Viral Video Effect" (Ferguson Effect) we're dealing with 10s of thousands of excess people shot and/or killed. POLICE STOP THAT. The tax for police pulling back is made up in bodies.

Me addressing Pfaff and anti-incarceration activists:

https://agent-orange-chicago.medium.com/anti-incarceration-activists-calls-for-releasing-prisoners-due-to-coronavirus-pandemic-begs-the-9ec75e1c00fe

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But I also have questioned Pfaff on Twitter exactly how much longer sentences are today compared to the 1970s and 1980s if the argument is modern prosecutors are increasing the prison population. I’ve never gotten an answer, nor found one. I have found that average time served for a prison sentence is only 2.6 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Of course, I had to first find that data in the conservative National Review.

53% of people in state prison are there for violent crimes (which house the vast majority of prisoners), and “mass incarceration” critics like Fordham law professor John Pfaff admit the 1994 Crime Bill and the War on Drugs aren’t driving high population rates, but prosecutors are.

But I also have questioned Pfaff on Twitter exactly how much longer sentences are today compared to the 1970s and 1980s if the argument is modern prosecutors are increasing the prison population. I’ve never gotten an answer, nor found one. I have found that average time served for a prison sentence is only 2.6 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Of course, I had to first find that data in the conservative National Review.

Anti-incarceration advocacy groups like the Sentencing Project obfuscate and when they mention “longer periods of time” served from one decade to another it’s only in federal prisons for drug violations due to “mandatory minimums.” But they only constitute 1 out of 14 prisoners, something the Sentencing Project conspicuously doesn’t mention.The smoking gun I’m still looking for is whether “average sentence served” in 1986 or 1976 was in the contemporary 2.6-year range, or half that. If half, you could determine sentence length is the driver of increased incarceration. However, in my research I discovered one smoking gun that proves Americans don’t lock up people and throw away the key compared to their European counterparts: The average sentence for murder is about the same in the U.S., U.K., and Sweden, around 14–16 years.

In Chicago, progressive judge Timothy Evans in charge of the Cook County court system may have cooked data to make it look like bail reform was working. [AND SO ON...]

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David Shuey
David Shuey

Written by David Shuey

Writer. Researcher. Designer. Human seeking better outcomes for all. Empiricism, relevant facts, and logical arguments > simple narratives.

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