We Have Good Friends Here

A couple of different readers have sent along this report, which has been covered in part at other blogs already, on the actual impact of gangs on crime rates and the more (and less) effective ways of dealing with them. As usual for criminal justice policymaking, it’s a story of narrative overrunning reality and diverting scarce resources away from what’s effective to what makes law enforcers feel good and the public feel like something’s being done when it’s among the least best directions to take. You should be aware that I’ve worked with both of the authors on a judicial focus group project in the past, so you can filter my own praise for the report accordingly. You can, of course, read the report yourself and form your own opinion. Wouldn’t mind some comments added to this post on it if you have the time to share.