Legal Research

Crime Counsel Challenges Third Way "Crime Wave" Forecast

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, June 20, 2008.

"The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) is challenging the 'Impending Crime Wave" report by the political consulting group Third Way, previously reported in Crime & Justice News. In a "fact sheet,' Third Way cited what NCCD described as "four new and menacing sociological trends, which, together with recent federal disengagement from crime fighting, allegedly threaten a new and devastating wave of crime in America."

"NCCD asserts that the described 'trends' are based on incorrect data, much of which was drawn from news stories or outdated reports. NCCD contends that 'today's children and teenagers are considerably less crime prone, and today's middle-aged adults are more so than their counterparts of the past.' The organization says that many of the most notable trends in youth crime have gone largely unrecognized by the general public and the news media for more than a decade. Much of the data from state and national crime reports contradicts the public image created by numerous authorities, politicians, leading institutions, and the news media of a law-abiding adult generation saddled with inexplicably violent, wayward youth, argues NCCD. Listing major issues identified by Third Way, NCCD gives its own summary: 'What is called for is a factual, rational basis for analyzingthe needs of prisoners, the public, youth, and immigrants. The US incarceration rate is unnecessarily high. Immigration concerns are real, but there is no evidence to suggest that immigrants pose a disproportionate threat to U.S. citizens. The internet contains everything imaginable, however, there is no evidence that it contributes to the sexual assault of minors. And youth crime is not the key factor in our nation's crime rates.' NCCD said it would post its critique on its Web site, nccd-crc.org.' "

Crime & Justice News

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on June 20, 2008 (boomark / email).