Maryland's Election Crime Ads in Context
October 2006
The Justice Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization, offers the following background data and findings to put the recent television and web-based campaign advertisements by the candidates for governor of Maryland into context...

Response to FBI's 2005 Uniform Crime Report
New crime statistics: The “safest” large city associated with a decrease in crime, Cities ranked “dangerous” have higher unemployment
October 2006
The recently released 2005 Uniform Crime Reports, a Justice Department survey administered by the FBI that shows national arrests trends, have renewed concern that crime is on the rise. From 2004 to 2005, the rate of violent crime per 100,000 increased 1.3 percent.  Although the FBI does not rank cities in terms of most “dangerous” or “safest”, an independent ranking using FBI data found that New York City is the “safest” of the 10 largest cities in the United States, with a 2005 crime rate of just one crime per 37 residents. New York City exemplifies the notion that increased incarceration does not necessarily lower crime rates. In fact, the opposite was found. Incarcerating more people does not lead to lower crime rates...

Rising Juvenile Crime in Perspective
October 2006
The 2005 FBI Uniform Crime Reports were released on Monday, September 18, and some media noted concerns of a 19 percent increase in juvenile murder arrests (representing a numerical increase of +145 arrests, nationwide). The Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a Washington, D.C. based policy group that promotes fair and rational justice policies, cautions that a one-year change in arrests cannot be interpreted as a “trend,” and that no single factor can explain changes in arrests across the nation, or within a jurisdiction. JPI cautions that, the UCR represents crime reported to law enforcement only. It does not account for changes in law enforcement practices that may lead to more reports of crime (i.e. changes in policing practices, or enforcement), versus true victimization and crime...

DC Crime “Emergency” in Context
Violence biggest problem in African-American neighborhoods;
DC Budget Priorities Shift from Education to Policing
Employment programs effective at reducing delinquent youth behavior
August 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Despite several high-profile violent crimes impacting tourist destinations and affluent neighborhoods, D.C. violent crime hit a five-year low in last calendar year. Crime in D.C. continues to most impact African American neighborhoods, according to analysis by the Justice Policy Institute. While law enforcement has called for increased capacity and “emergency” redeployment, studies show that law enforcement alone has little impact on crime and safety. Employment and youth development programs, which have experienced massive funding cuts nationally and in D.C., are proven to be effective at reducing delinquent behavior in young people...

2005 Crime Rise in Context
WASHINGTON, D.C., -- New statistics show that U.S. crime trends are mixed. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, the number of violent crime arrests rose 2.5 percent, but the number of property crime offenses decreased 1.6 percent when compared with data from 2004. While reported arrests increased for three of the four violent crime categories from the previous year’s data, the rise in crime differed by region, and size of metropolitan areas...

Crime, Race and Juvenile Justice Policy in Perspective
October 3rd, 2005
These comments on racially disparate crime also overlook the area of “corporate crime.” For over a decade, the Justice Department has been working to reduce the racial disparity seen in juvenile arrests and juvenile imprisonment, a fact that underscores the existence of racially disparate arrests and sentences. African-American youth arrest rates for drug violations, assaults and weapon offenses are higher than arrest rates for white youth—even though both report similar rates of delinquency...

Ganging Up on Crime
April 11, 2005
While many communities do experience unacceptable levels of serious crime, including gang crime, our measures of serious gang violence do not tell us that the problem is “ravaging” all our communities. In 2002, gang homicides represented 7% of the known circumstances in which homicides occurred. Four times as many homicide victims were killed in relation to an “argument” than a gang...[viii]