The Jude Cause And The Ferguson Effect

[Sam1]

We have all heard that police are likely to be less effective when under observation. This blog post explores the idea that there may be other causes for the spike in violence and crime in some areas then monitoring police behavior.

In two apparently unintentionally competing op-eds, social science revealed some problems in dealing with the concepts of cause and effect in its effort to “explain” a rise in violent crime in a few cities. Neil Gross writes about the Ferguson Effect, noting two studies that show that it’s nonsense, except when it’s not.


One, there is now some evidence that when all eyes are on police misconduct, crime may edge up. Progressives should acknowledge that this idea isn’t far-fetched.

Far-fetched? Nobody said it was far-fetched, but correlation doesn’t prove causation.

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2016/10/01/the-jude-cause-and-the-ferguson-effect/

[wcast]

1. They always fall back on the argument that minorities are criminals.

After 400 years of this treatment, there is no reason why any person of color should trust police. The institutions that are the make up of our judicial system have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The advent of cameras is having a huge impact, and these institutions are fighting back.

I think it is the same fight that is taking place in our election. Whites have been the majority and power brokers for 400 years and are scared when they see the demographics changing so rapidly. They literally believe that the US as they know it is ending. And since our treatment of minorities as a country has never been any different, that sentiment is quietly written into our national consciousness, and we react as a society in the way we have been programmed.

Even here on DU you see advice given that if only the person shot by police had done this or that, they would not have been shot. But when did anyone with power in our country ever need an excuse to exercise their power and control of the minority population?

[Igel]

2. That's the converse of the claim.

And it leaves out quantification.

Bad logic.