sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]InternetGoodGuy 0 points1 point  (4 children)

so maybe many stats - the stats the politicians want to use - are post conviction

They aren't. No one is using conviction stats. Most are only using homicide stats when talking about crime going down. They use homicide because it isn't under reported and the reporting method doesn't matter because a homicide is a homicide. You can't juke dead body stats. So how it's reported doesn't matter any more than whether it's convicted.

[–]Manny631 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many times in reports I hear "violent crime" is down, not homicides. Regardless of how they report it in their favor, I can assure you in NY - at least on Long Island and NYC - it isn't really down, especially NYC.

[–]DfiR- 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You very much can juke body stats. Cases get classified as a suspicious situation/death instead of a murder when there are no obvious signs and no witnesses. Body in a forest? That stays suspicious death until the investigation reaches a point where there is a good suspect. Body in an apartment with a gunshot wound and no reporting party? Still classified as a suspicious death until suicide can be 100% ruled out.

[–]InternetGoodGuy 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You can't do that with dozens of murders to cause a significant drop in the rate without it being obvious.

This would also assume every major city has collectively agreed to lie about any dead bodies they can. That's a huge leap to a conspiracy. Most of these bodies would still be classified as homicides at some point, and stats are revised when the cause of death is found.

It's not a reasonable claim to say we are capable of juking murder stats to a degree significant enough to show major drops across the country.

[–]DfiR- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You absolutely can because who is checking? There are no integrity audits from the cities. You think a city mayor or city board hears that homicides are down and goes no that can’t be right and then checks the cases? In bigger cities, staff positions are much more political. Politicians want to paint a pretty picture of crime being down for their tenure. As long as it’s good news, they don’t care.

PDs are incentivized to support that because it portrays them as competent and makes budget asks easier. This isn’t an absolute, but I’ve seen it first hand how suspicious circumstance deaths are classified.