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  • Originally posted by myth View Post
    Since that's not a statistic I've ever been particularly interested in, I'll have to assume for the sake of argument that it's true (I'm aware of disparities in incarceration and arrest rates, I've not looked deeply into actual offense rate estimates).

    I'd suppose its probably the result of a combination of factors, including: lower socioeconomic status, lack of confidence in the established criminal justice system, greater likely of being victims themselves (leading them to conclude that crime is more commonplace than it actually is, and, therefore more socially acceptable), and a sense of entitlement because of historical injustices against their own people group.
    Let's zoom in on crimes against cops, ie. felonious killings or attempts to kill police officers. Which races proportionately commit the most of such offences, and why?

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Paprika View Post
      Why do people of certain races commit crimes at a significantly higher rate than others?
      Historic persecution, slavery, penal slavery (for profit) after reconstruction extended up to WWII, Zoning ghettoes in American cities, extreme conviction and killing of innocent blacks by law enforcement, lack of equal enforcement of crimes against blacks, deprived of equal education, exclusion from the labor market, exclusion of black famers from government loans, and the list is longer,

      Result greater poverty among blacks, and the result is higher crime among blacks,
      Last edited by shunyadragon; 05-16-2015, 08:53 PM.
      Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
      Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
      But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

      go with the flow the river knows . . .

      Frank

      I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Paprika View Post
        Let's zoom in on crimes against cops, ie. felonious killings or attempts to kill police officers. Which races proportionately commit the most of such offences, and why?
        Zoom in? The extreme degree of violence by law enforcement and the court system against blacks including wide spread lynchings, greater poverty, will result in greater violence between police and blacks.

        See my previous post. For over 200 years the blacks in America have live in suppression and fear.
        Last edited by shunyadragon; 05-16-2015, 08:52 PM.
        Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
        Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
        But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

        go with the flow the river knows . . .

        Frank

        I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
          I'm at a loss here -- I didn't grow up with "militant" blacks -- we always got along just fine. It's only been in the last 20 years or so that I've seen this 'confrontational' ... I don't even know how to explain it.
          What? Really?? Slavery, lynching’s, white supremacy, Jin Crow laws, etc. No wonder they kept their heads bowed.
          “I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.” ― Oscar Wilde
          “And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence” ― Bertrand Russell
          “not all there” - you know who you are

          Comment


          • Originally posted by firstfloor View Post
            What? Really?? Slavery, lynching’s, white supremacy, Jin Crow laws, etc. No wonder they kept their heads bowed.
            Yeah, somehow, in our neighborhood, we got past all that, and we called them friends. Yes, Really.
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
              Yeah, somehow, in our neighborhood, we got past all that, and we called them friends. Yes, Really.
              It is possibly your neighborhood was an idealic exception, or maybe 'Mr. Roger's neighborhood,' or maybe the end of the 'Yellow Brick Road.' The reality of the Black history in the USA and much of the rest of the world is decidedly different.
              Last edited by shunyadragon; 05-17-2015, 07:04 AM.
              Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
              Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
              But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

              go with the flow the river knows . . .

              Frank

              I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
                It is possibly your neighborhood was an idealic exception, or maybe 'Mr. Roger's neighborhood.
                I have lived all over Texas - mostly the East (Tyler area) and South (Houston area), and it certainly didn't seem "idealic". We just were more concerned with getting along than we were looking for trouble. (most of the time)

                or maybe the end of the 'Yellow Brick Road.' The reality of the Black history in the USA and much of the rest of the world is decidedly different.
                I think you're taking some horrible and ugly examples, and assuming that was "normal".

                I know this is difficult for you to understand, but a lot of families in the old days saw blacks as "readily available help". Is that a BAD thing? We needed help and they needed money, food and shelter. If you really wanted to get things done around the ranch, you didn't want an adversarial relationship with them, where you had to beat them into doing what you wanted done. You found a way to make it in their best interest. Perhaps it would have been more compassionate to keep them separate and let them struggle on their own?
                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

                  I think you're taking some horrible and ugly examples, and assuming that was "normal".
                  Cow Poke.

                  This is not remotely related to the reality of race relations in our country. The 'ugly' example is in reality the history of our country that the white leaders of South Africa openly admired. In fact the Post Colonial white leaders of South Africa openly followed the example of the USA.

                  I know this is difficult for you to understand, but a lot of families in the old days saw blacks as "readily available help". Is that a BAD thing? We needed help and they needed money, food and shelter. If you really wanted to get things done around the ranch, you didn't want an adversarial relationship with them, where you had to beat them into doing what you wanted done. You found a way to make it in their best interest. Perhaps it would have been more compassionate to keep them separate and let them struggle on their own?
                  This is nice, but does not address the 'Big Picture' of the nature of our culture through our history. I live in a predominately black low to lower middle income neighborhood, and I have lived a lifed closer to minorities then most Americans, and no the above is only the exception of the history of race relationships in the USA.

                  Are you remotely aware of the actual facts of our history of race relationships?
                  Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                  Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                  But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                  go with the flow the river knows . . .

                  Frank

                  I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                  Comment


                  • When two people have radically different experiences and disagree over what is most typical surely that is precisely the sort of thing you would settle using data and statistics?

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Kristian Joensen View Post
                      When two people have radically different experiences and disagree over what is most typical surely that is precisely the sort of thing you would settle using data and statistics?
                      The data and specifics are in the history books, surveys, records, laws on the books in the states and the country (ie Jim Crow Laws), records of penal slavery, and many more. I will cite many, for example the following:

                      The following is a quikie brief reference but reasonable. I will give many many more if needed. Penal Servitude is distinctly different from systems of work training and jobs provided in prisons for inmates.

                      Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States



                      Convict lease

                      Floridian convicts leased to harvest timber in the mid-1910s.
                      Main article: Convict lease

                      The "convict lease" system became popular throughout the American South following the American Civil War and into the 20th century. Since the impoverished state governments could not afford penitentiaries, they leased out prisoners to work at private firms. According to Douglas A. Blackmon, because of the revenue received by local governments, they had incentives to arrest blacks; tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested and leased to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations.[4] In Florida, convicts were often sent to work in lumber camps and turpentine factories.[5] The state governments maximized profits by putting the responsibility on the lessee to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for the prisoners, with little oversight. This resulted in extremely poor conditions, numerous deaths, and perhaps the most inhumane system of labor in the United States.[6] Reformers abolished convict leasing in the 20th-century Progressive Era, stopping the system in Florida in 1919. The last state to abolish the practice was Alabama in 1927.

                      Mississippi for-profit prison labor

                      Main article: Private prisons in the United States

                      Forced labor exists in many prisons. In Mississippi, Parchman Farm operated as a for-profit plantation, which yielded revenues for the state from its earliest years. Many prisoners were used to clear the dense growth in the Mississippi bottomland, and then to cultivate the land for agriculture. By the mid-20th century, it had 21,000 acres under cultivation. In the late 20th century, prison conditions were investigated under civil rights laws, when abuses of prisoners and harsh working conditions were exposed. These revelations during the 1970s lead the state to abandon the for-profit aspect of its forced labor from convicts and planned to hire a professional penologist to head the prison. A state commission recommended reducing the size of acreage, to grow only what is needed for the prison.[7]

                      Hired convict labor

                      In 1924, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, held a conference on the “ruinous and unfair competition between prison-made products and free industry and labor” (70 Cong. Rec. S656 (1928)).[8] The eventual legislative response to the committee’s report led to federal laws regulating the manufacture, sale and distribution of prison-made products. Congress enacted the Hawes-Cooper Act in 1929, the Ashurst-Sumners Act in 1935 (now known as 18 U.S.C. § 1761(a)), and the Walsh-Healey Act in 1936.[8] Walsh controlled the production of prison-made goods while Ashurst prohibited the distribution of such products in interstate transportation or commerce.[8] Both statutes authorized federal criminal prosecutions for violations of state laws enacted pursuant to the Hawes-Cooper Act.[8] Private companies got involved again in 1979, when Congress passed a law establishing the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program which allows employment opportunities for prisoners in some circumstances.[9] PIECP relaxed the restrictions imposed under the Ashurst-Sumners and Walsh-Healey Acts, and allowed for the manufacture, sale and distribution of prisoner-made products across state lines.[8] However, PIECP limited participation in the program to 38 jurisdictions (later increased to 50), and required each to apply to the U.S. Department of Justice for certification.[8]

                      According to the International Labor Organization, in 2000-2011 wages in American prisons ranged between $0.23 and $1.15 an hour. In California, prisoners earn between $0.30 and $0.95 an hour before deductions.[10]

                      Over the years, the courts have held that inmates may be required to work and are not protected by the constitutional prohibition against involuntary servitude.[11] They have also consistently held that inmates have no constitutional right to compensation and that inmates are paid by the "grace of the state.”[11] Under the Federal Bureau of Prisons, all able-bodied sentenced prisoners were required to work, except those who participated full time in education or other treatment programs or who were considered security risks.[11] Correctional standards promulgated by the American Correctional Association provide that sentenced inmates, who are generally housed in maximum, medium, or minimum security prisons, be required to work and be paid for that work.[11] Some states require, as with Arizona, all able-bodied inmates to work.[12]

                      Inmates have reported that some private companies, such as Martori Farms, do not check for medical background or age when pulling women for jobs.[13]

                      Governmental prison workforce authorities.

                      Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR or FPI) is a wholly owned United States government corporation created in 1934 that uses penal labor from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to produce goods and services. FPI is restricted to selling its products and services to federal government agencies,[14] with some recent exceptions.

                      California Prison Industry Authority is an entity within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that develops and operates industrial, agricultural, and service enterprises using penal labor.

                      © Copyright Original Source

                      Last edited by shunyadragon; 05-17-2015, 07:52 AM.
                      Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                      Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                      But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                      go with the flow the river knows . . .

                      Frank

                      I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
                        The data and specifics are in the history books, surveys, records, laws on the books in the states and the country (ie Jim Crow Laws), records of penal slavery, and many more. I will cite many, for example the following:

                        The following is a quikie brief reference but reasonable. I will give many many more if needed. Penal Servitude is distinctly different from systems of work training and jobs provided in prisons for inmates.

                        Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States



                        Convict lease

                        Floridian convicts leased to harvest timber in the mid-1910s.
                        Main article: Convict lease

                        The "convict lease" system became popular throughout the American South following the American Civil War and into the 20th century. Since the impoverished state governments could not afford penitentiaries, they leased out prisoners to work at private firms. According to Douglas A. Blackmon, because of the revenue received by local governments, they had incentives to arrest blacks; tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested and leased to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations.[4] In Florida, convicts were often sent to work in lumber camps and turpentine factories.[5] The state governments maximized profits by putting the responsibility on the lessee to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for the prisoners, with little oversight. This resulted in extremely poor conditions, numerous deaths, and perhaps the most inhumane system of labor in the United States.[6] Reformers abolished convict leasing in the 20th-century Progressive Era, stopping the system in Florida in 1919. The last state to abolish the practice was Alabama in 1927.

                        Mississippi for-profit prison labor

                        Main article: Private prisons in the United States

                        Forced labor exists in many prisons. In Mississippi, Parchman Farm operated as a for-profit plantation, which yielded revenues for the state from its earliest years. Many prisoners were used to clear the dense growth in the Mississippi bottomland, and then to cultivate the land for agriculture. By the mid-20th century, it had 21,000 acres under cultivation. In the late 20th century, prison conditions were investigated under civil rights laws, when abuses of prisoners and harsh working conditions were exposed. These revelations during the 1970s lead the state to abandon the for-profit aspect of its forced labor from convicts and planned to hire a professional penologist to head the prison. A state commission recommended reducing the size of acreage, to grow only what is needed for the prison.[7]

                        Hired convict labor

                        In 1924, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, held a conference on the “ruinous and unfair competition between prison-made products and free industry and labor” (70 Cong. Rec. S656 (1928)).[8] The eventual legislative response to the committee’s report led to federal laws regulating the manufacture, sale and distribution of prison-made products. Congress enacted the Hawes-Cooper Act in 1929, the Ashurst-Sumners Act in 1935 (now known as 18 U.S.C. § 1761(a)), and the Walsh-Healey Act in 1936.[8] Walsh controlled the production of prison-made goods while Ashurst prohibited the distribution of such products in interstate transportation or commerce.[8] Both statutes authorized federal criminal prosecutions for violations of state laws enacted pursuant to the Hawes-Cooper Act.[8] Private companies got involved again in 1979, when Congress passed a law establishing the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program which allows employment opportunities for prisoners in some circumstances.[9] PIECP relaxed the restrictions imposed under the Ashurst-Sumners and Walsh-Healey Acts, and allowed for the manufacture, sale and distribution of prisoner-made products across state lines.[8] However, PIECP limited participation in the program to 38 jurisdictions (later increased to 50), and required each to apply to the U.S. Department of Justice for certification.[8]

                        According to the International Labor Organization, in 2000-2011 wages in American prisons ranged between $0.23 and $1.15 an hour. In California, prisoners earn between $0.30 and $0.95 an hour before deductions.[10]

                        Over the years, the courts have held that inmates may be required to work and are not protected by the constitutional prohibition against involuntary servitude.[11] They have also consistently held that inmates have no constitutional right to compensation and that inmates are paid by the "grace of the state.”[11] Under the Federal Bureau of Prisons, all able-bodied sentenced prisoners were required to work, except those who participated full time in education or other treatment programs or who were considered security risks.[11] Correctional standards promulgated by the American Correctional Association provide that sentenced inmates, who are generally housed in maximum, medium, or minimum security prisons, be required to work and be paid for that work.[11] Some states require, as with Arizona, all able-bodied inmates to work.[12]

                        Inmates have reported that some private companies, such as Martori Farms, do not check for medical background or age when pulling women for jobs.[13]

                        Governmental prison workforce authorities.

                        Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR or FPI) is a wholly owned United States government corporation created in 1934 that uses penal labor from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to produce goods and services. FPI is restricted to selling its products and services to federal government agencies,[14] with some recent exceptions.

                        California Prison Industry Authority is an entity within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that develops and operates industrial, agricultural, and service enterprises using penal labor.

                        © Copyright Original Source

                        In contrast Great Britain passed a number of Penal Servitude Acts for biding this from 1853 to 1926
                        Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                        Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                        But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                        go with the flow the river knows . . .

                        Frank

                        I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                        Comment


                        • Then there is John Burge of Chicago . . .

                          Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge


                          Jon Graham Burge (born December 20, 1947) is a convicted felon and former Chicago Police Department detective and commander who gained notoriety for torturing more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991 in order to force confessions. A decorated United States Army veteran, Burge served tours in South Korea and Vietnam and continued as an enlisted United States Army Reserve soldier where he served in the military police. He then returned to the South Side of Chicago and began his career as a police officer. Allegations were made about the methods of Burge and those under his command. Eventually, hundreds of similar reports resulted in a decision by Illinois Governor George Ryan to declare a moratorium on death penalty executions in Illinois in 2000 and to clear the state's death row in 2003.

                          The most controversial arrests began in February 1982, in the midst of a series of shootings of Chicago law enforcement officials in Police Area 2, whose detective squad Burge commanded. Some[quantify] of the people who confessed to murder were later granted new trials and a few[quantify] were acquitted or pardoned. Burge was acquitted of police brutality charges in 1989 after a first trial resulted in a hung jury. He was suspended from the Chicago Police Department in 1991 and fired in 1993 after the Police Department Review Board ruled that he had used torture.

                          After Burge was fired, there was a groundswell of support to investigate convictions for which he provided evidence. In 2002, a special prosecutor began investigating the accusations. The review, which cost $17 million, revealed improprieties that resulted in no action due to the statute of limitations. Several convictions were reversed, remanded, or overturned. All Illinois death-row inmates received reductions in their sentences. Four of Burge's victims were pardoned by then-Governor Ryan and subsequently filed a consolidated suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the City of Chicago, various police officers, Cook County and various State's Attorneys. A $19.8 million settlement was reached in December 2007, with the "city defendants." Cases against Cook County and the other current/former county prosecutors continue as of July 2008. In October 2008, Patrick Fitzgerald had Burge arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury in relation to a civil suit regarding the torture allegations against him. On April 1, 2010, Judge Joan Lefkow postponed the trial, for the fourth time, to May 24, 2010.[1] Burge was convicted on all counts on June 28, 2010. He was sentenced to four-and-one-half years in federal prison on January 21, 2011.

                          © Copyright Original Source



                          He got off easy and is now living in Florida. Justice?
                          Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                          Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                          But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                          go with the flow the river knows . . .

                          Frank

                          I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
                            Cow Poke.
                            Yes, shunyadragon.

                            This is not remotely related to the reality of race relations in our country. The 'ugly' example is in reality the history of our country that the white leaders of South Africa openly admired. In fact the Post Colonial white leaders of South Africa openly followed the example of the USA.
                            I think I shall defer to your expertise in hatred, bigotry and prejudice.
                            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                            Comment


                            • Source: http://www.eji.org/lynchinginamerica



                              summary of Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror by Equal Justice Intiative

                              Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror documents EJI’s multi-year investigation into lynching in twelve Southern states during the period between Reconstruction and World War II. EJI researchers documented 3959 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia between 1877 and 1950 – at least 700 more lynchings of black people in these states than previously reported in the most comprehensive work done on lynching to date.

                              Lynching in America makes the case that lynching of African Americans was terrorism, a widely supported phenomenon used to enforce racial subordination and segregation. Lynchings were violent and public events that traumatized black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. This was not “frontier justice” carried out by a few marginalized vigilantes or extremists. Instead, many African Americans who were never accused of any crime were tortured and murdered in front of picnicking spectators (including elected officials and prominent citizens) for bumping into a white person, or wearing their military uniforms after World War I, or not using the appropriate title when addressing a white person. People who participated in lynchings were celebrated and acted with impunity.

                              The report explores the ways in which lynching profoundly impacted race relations in this country and shaped the contemporary geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of African Americans. Most importantly, lynching reinforced a narrative of racial difference and a legacy of racial inequality that is readily apparent in our criminal justice system today. Mass incarceration, racially biased capital punishment, excessive sentencing, disproportionate sentencing of racial minorities, and police abuse of people of color reveal problems in American society that were shaped by the terror era.

                              No prominent public memorial or monument commemorates the thousands of African Americans who were lynched in America. Lynching in America argues that is a powerful statement about our failure to value the black lives lost in this brutal campaign of racial violence. Research on mass violence, trauma, and transitional justice underscores the urgent need to engage in public conversations about racial history that begin a process of truth and reconciliation in this country.

                              “We cannot heal the deep wounds inflicted during the era of racial terrorism until we tell the truth about it,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson. “The geographic, political, economic, and social consequences of decades of terror lynchings can still be seen in many communities today and the damage created by lynching needs to be confronted and discussed. Only then can we meaningfully address the contemporary problems that are lynching’s legacy.”

                              © Copyright Original Source

                              Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                              Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                              But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                              go with the flow the river knows . . .

                              Frank

                              I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                              Comment


                              • Note: I believe the police officer in incident that resulted in the death of Michael Brown is justified in acting in his defense, but the investigation of the incident revealed an extremely disturbing pattern methodical abuse of Blacks in Ferguson.

                                Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/ferguson-as-a-criminal-conspiracy-against-its-black-residents-michael-brown-department-of-justice-report/386887/



                                Ferguson's Conspiracy Against Black Citizens

                                Despite the uncertainty surrounding the killing of Michael Brown, many black residents of Ferguson, Missouri, immediately thought that he was the victim of a wrongful death at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson, who shot him after a scuffle.

                                This week, the Department of Justice concluded that there is no evidence to disprove Officer Wilson's claim that he feared for his life during the encounter. And the federal agency also presented context that explains why so many black residents assumed foul play and took to the streets in protest: For years, Ferguson's police force has meted out brutality, violated civil rights, and helped Ferguson officials to leech off the black community as shamelessly as would mafia bosses.

                                So far, a disproportionate amount of press attention has focused on racist emails circulated by Ferguson officials, causing two to be fired and one to be placed on leave. While the correspondence in question is deeply offensive and worthy of condemnation, it is nowhere close to the most objectionable transgression documented in the DOJ report, which ought to prompt multiple Ferguson officials to resign in disgrace and provoke condemnations from across the political spectrum. Nearly every page shocks the conscience.

                                Ferguson officials repeatedly behaved as if their priority is not improving public safety or protecting the rights of residents, but maximizing the revenue that flows into city coffers, sometimes going so far as to anticipate decreasing sales tax revenues and urging the police force to make up for the shortfall by ticketing more people. Often, those tickets for minor offenses then turned into arrest warrants.

                                Ferguson officials leeched off the black community as shamelessly as would mafia bosses.

                                Police officers were judged not only on the number of stops they made, but on the number of citations they issued. "Officers routinely conduct stops that have little relation to public safety and a questionable basis in law," the report states. "Issuing three or four charges in one stop is not uncommon. Officers sometimes write six, eight, or, in at least one instance, fourteen citations for a single encounter." Some officers compete to see who can issue the most citations in a single stop.

                                In one email, the police chief, who also oversees the municipal court, brags to the city manager about how much revenue it is generating. Ignoring that conflict of interest is a recipe for a justice system that bleeds the powerless of their meager resources.

                                Ferguson's municipal court judge, Ronald Brockmeyer, who is appointed by the city council, is well aware that his job performance is evaluated partly based on how much revenue he generates from the bench. One 2011 internal report in Ferguson notes that Judge Brockmeyer made a list of “what he has done to help in the areas of court efficiency and revenue.” The next year, a city council member suggested that he should not be reappointed, arguing that he "does not listen to the testimony, does not review the reports or the criminal history of defendants, and doesn’t let all the pertinent witnesses testify before rendering a verdict.”

                                If you think those shortcomings disqualified him, think again.

                                The report continues:

                                The Council member then addressed the concern that “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue,” arguing that even if such a switch did “lead to a slight loss, I think it’s more important that cases are being handled properly and fairly.” The City Manager acknowledged mixed reviews of Judge Brockmeyer’s work but urged that the Judge be reappointed, noting that “...it goes without saying the City cannot afford to lose any efficiency in our Courts, nor experience any decrease in our Fines and Forfeitures.”

                                Establishing these glaring perverse incentives—effectively compromising the city's criminal-justice system to increase revenue—is enough to disgrace Ferguson's leaders all on its own, whether one regards them as civic imbeciles or moral cretins. But the consequences of these misdeeds and other transgressions against residents can only be fully understood with stories of Ferguson's many victims.

                                © Copyright Original Source

                                Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                                Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                                But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                                go with the flow the river knows . . .

                                Frank

                                I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                                Comment

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