Hillary's pandering is treading into dangerous territory

[WVPATX]

Seeking to capitalize on recent racial events, Hillary made a speech today where she blasted the fact that blacks are more frequently stopped and arrested than whites. She is using the Disparate Impact logic that tries to assess if inequal treatment is occurring by looking at raw numbers (e.g. blacks make up 13% of the population and should account for 13% of the stops and arrests). Giuliani and Bloomberg have been blasted by civil rights leaders because of stop and frisk, even though more whites were stopped and frisked as a percentage of those that actually commit crimes than were blacks.

If we allow ourselves to not include actual crime statistics in deciding if a group is being targeted, we are going to see communities much less safe.

 

[mule_eer]

The statistics I've seen are that blacks and Latinos were almost 90% of the stops between 2002 and 2011. You may say that the population of the neighborhoods may have reflected that, but I've also seen statistics about some neighborhoods - Park Slope was the example I saw - where minorities were 24% of the population and 79% of the stops.

Stop and frisk is credited with causing a drop in the violent crime in NY, but they found guns on 0.2% of the stops. The victims of gun violence statistics basically don't change with a 600% increase in stops between 2002 and 2011. Also, violent crime dropped by 29% in NYC during the expansion of stop and frisk. During the same time period, violent crimes rates dropped by 59% in LA, 56% in New Orleans, 49% in Dallas, and 37% in Baltimore - all cities with no such stop and frisk policy. Basically, correlation does not imply causation.

 

[WVPATX]

You just made my point:

but I've also seen statistics about some neighborhoods - Park Slope was the example I saw - where minorities were 24% of the population and 79% of the stops.

The key is not what percentage of the population blacks comprise, but what percentage of the crimes. Also, where did the stops occur? Most likely in high crime areas. What % of the population in high crime areas do black's comprise?

BTW, the murder rate in NYC just climbed 20% over this time last year! after stop and frisk ended.

 

[mule_eer]

Do you think minorities comprise 90% of the criminals in NYC? That's their percentage of stops. And the 0.2% of the stops that resulted in police finding a gun doesn't account for the 20% increase in murders.

My opposition to stop and frisk is purely a constitutional one. Random sampling of people to see if they might be in possession of something they shouldn't have doesn't fit within the framework of our rights as defined by the Constitution. At the very least, you need legitimate probably cause to conduct those searches, and possibly looking fishy to a cop is not probable cause.

 

[WVPATX]

Again, you've reinforced my point. Minorities committed 89% of the crimes in NYC, unless I'm reading this crime report incorrectly.

http://libertyfight.com/2014/crime_stats_by_race_NYC_2013.html