Violence in the Heartland, 1960-2012–Part One

Despite their geographical proximity and economic and cultural similarities, the states of the Midwest have had very different rates of violent crime over the past five decades.  Moreover, through periods of dramatic increases and decreases in violent crime, the relative positions of the states have remained fairly stable.  The low-violence states in 1960 remain at the low end today, while the high-violence states in 1960 remain at the high end today.  However, the gap between the high states and low states has been slowly diminishing for many years.  In another decade, the state that has historically had the highest rate of violence, Illinois, may conceivably fall to about the same level as the state that has historically had the lowest, Iowa.

Readers of this Blog may know that I have previously written a series of posts on crime and punishment in three midwestern states, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (e.g., here and here).  With this post, I begin a new series that will explore regional trends more broadly.  With violent crime such a staple of local news coverage, I think it’s helpful to be able to place the crime du jour within a wider spatial and temporal context; perhaps this bigger-picture view may lessen the tendency to adopt hastily conceived policy responses to whatever happens to be the latest outrage.

Here are the rates of reported violent crime (per 100,000 residents) in the midwestern states and the U.S. as a whole since 1960:

Continue ReadingViolence in the Heartland, 1960-2012–Part One

Truth in Sentencing and Early Release: A Follow Up

Last week, I spoke on truth in sentencing at Marquette Law School as part of Mike Gousha’s “On the Issues” series.  My PowerPoint slides and a video of the event are available here.  Alan Borsuk summarized some of the key points in this blog post.

If you watch the video, you will see that time constraints caused me to skip over a couple of slides.  I’ll fill in those gaps here and then suggest where I would like to see Wisconsin go with early release.

First, I think one of the most interesting and puzzling aspects of our polling research is that many Wisconsin voters say they support both truth in sentencing (“TIS”) and release from prison when an offender can demonstrate that he is no longer a threat to public safety, even though these two policies are in tension with one another.  

Continue ReadingTruth in Sentencing and Early Release: A Follow Up

Nancy King to Speak at Marquette on Punishment for Repeat Offenders

kingI’m looking forward to this year’s Barrock Lecture on Criminal Law, which will be delivered by Professor Nancy King of Vanderbilt Law School on November 18.  King has long been one of my favorite writers on criminal procedure and sentencing.  Whatever the topic, she can always be counted on to bring a refreshingly commonsensical perspective to bear.

King’s Lecture will focus on the sentencing of recidivists.  Here’s the description:

Courts and legislatures today routinely authorize punishment for repeat offenders that is far more severe than the punishment assigned those convicted for the first time. This reliance upon criminal history when setting sentences has a surprisingly fascinating history. It also has an uncertain future. Recent constitutional rulings may threaten established procedures for assessing sentences for prior offenders; researchers continue to question the relationship between criminal history and either culpability or future dangerousness; and commentators disagree whether using criminal history to calibrate punishment entrenches racial disparity in sentencing or, rather, helps to avoid it. Professor King will address these and related issues as she discusses the ongoing challenge of punishing recidivists in the 21st century.

The Lecture, which is open to the public, will start at 4:30 in Eckstein Hall.  Registration information and other details are available here.

Continue ReadingNancy King to Speak at Marquette on Punishment for Repeat Offenders