Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
David Kennedy is a criminologist who has spent decades working with
police in some of the most dangerous cities in America. In his book
"Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America" he details how he and others developed a way to
dramatically reduce violence and general criminality in mostly black
neighborhoods.
This book challenges many of the fundamental assumptions of both the
left, the right, and libertarians. Some of his conclusions are:
- The police are not racist
- Guns are not the problem (people kill people, heh)
- Very little gang-related violence is over control of drug market "turf"
- Inner city blacks really believe the system is out to get them
- Aggressive, stop-and-search policing does not work
- Young killers are not psychopaths, and hate their violent world
As a very libertarian-leaning conservative, I had hoped Kennedy would
come out squarely in favor of drug legalization. He doesn't, but he
makes a strong case that the current War on Drugs is making things
worse, not better.
Inner-city black men don't actually believe that anyone in
authority--their churches, elders, or the police--actually cares that
they are killing each other in large numbers. Few murders are solved,
and the community, resenting the police, never testifies.
To break the pattern, Kennedy will get the police, prosecutors, parole
officers, church leaders, community activists (ugh, I know) together
with members of the worst drug crew and lay out a simple message:
don't kill anyone. Then they focus their attention not on
stop-and-search but on cracking down on the gang when a murder does
happen. All the crews get the message, and huge decreases in murders
occur within months.
Kennedy's goal is to stop the killing and get the drug trade off the
streets so that communities become liveable again. Once this happens,
the law-abiding citizens once again report crime to the police.
In one of Kennedy's grad classes he asks his students who among them
could buy illegal drugs in that building today if they wanted
to. After a few moments of silence, most of the class members raise
their hand. That's the state of the War on Drugs for white
America--illegal drugs are readily available, there is little violence
associated with the trade, and few ever go to prison. If we could get
black America to that state, wouldn't it be real progress, even if
eradication were unobtainable?
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
I've always thought that to. Most gang murders are caused by lack of imagination. If they'd just think for 30 seconds about what happens next, they'd never do it.
Sep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
From what Kennedy says, they're mostly about stupid "beefs," like fighting over a girl , or disrespect, or something like that.
Mar '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
I think the media and the Democrats have largely created this attitude among blacks. They always highlite the fact that blacks are disproportionately represented in the prison population. If the police were hostile toward blacks they could simply refrain from investigating and prosecuting crimes where the victims are black. If they did that, the proportion of blacks in prison would be pretty close to their proportion in the population in general.
I believe, if drugs were legalized, a lot of fools would off themselves, but they're doing it anyway and if drugs were legal they would do less harm to others in the process.
Jan '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Without a similar culture of Christianity and the family to support and influence behavior; we've pretty much concluded that people exist (e.g. in Afghanistan) in tribal environments that do not coexist with contemporary western values.
It seems we also have tribal environments, along with honor killing, within the single-parent wasteland regions of the United States.
Sep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Raw Prawn: I think the media and the Democrats have largely created this attitude among blacks. They always highlite the fact that blacks are disproportionately represented in the prison population. If the police were hostile toward blacks they could simply refrain from investigating and prosecuting crimes where the victims are black. If they did that, the proportion of blacks in prison would be pretty close to their proportion in the population in general.
I believe, if drugs were legalized, a lot of fools would off themselves, but they're doing it anyway and if drugs were legal they would do less harm to others in the process. · 7 hours ago
Well, blacks are incarcerated at 10 times the rate per capita that whites are. I think the left goes wrong in assuming this means the police are racist, which is not true. But that's largely the message that we hear. A young black man in the ghetto has grown up in a world with few regular adult males in their lives, terrible schools, ever-present danger, constant police searches etc. It gives them a different, insular world-view.
Sep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Yeah...ok.: Without a similar culture of Christianity and the family to support and influence behavior; we've pretty much concluded that people exist (e.g. in Afghanistan) in tribal environments that do not coexist with contemporary western values.
It seems we also have tribal environments, along with honor killing, within the single-parent wasteland regions of the United States. · 28 minutes ago
I can't help but think that the fact that in some locales most black men end up in prison at some point contributes to the high rates of single-parenthood.
Mar '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Interesting concept, but I'm skeptical whether it's sufficient to prevent violence from recurring eventually.
Drug-related gang violence seems to be a problem which was born of practical reasons many decades ago (an undereducated population with few employment opportunities combined with a black market) which has since spiraled so far out of control that there is no longer any semblance of logical cause and effect.
I think Kennedy's plan might be useful in turning back some of the "spiraling out of control" element of gang violence, but without a positive alternative (meaning employment opportunities and a realistic chance of self-advancement), the cime will inevitably return.
The same can be said regarding drug legalization. While I am in favor of legalizing some drugs and lowering the penalties for others, reducing the profitability of drug dealing will simply push gangs into a new field unless gainful employment opportunities are available.
Nov '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
If it really actually works he will most likely end up being fired like the teacher in New York (book/movie- too lazy to look up). Or ignored, like the teacher in California (book: Crazy Like a Fox). I just re-read my post and it is so cynical. Trends have to start somewhere and the originators are often ridiculed and punished. I will read his book. I am adding that I think we are going see a great change in black culture in the US over the next 10 years- an awakening of sorts.
Edited on March 3, 2012 at 9:50pmSep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Well, apparently the problem is that the various government and community groups that have to be involved are willing to try the new approach for a while basically out of despair. Once things start working though, the various groups sometimes start jockeying for political dominance, and the whole cycle can start over again. Some places though have committed to the changes, and they've lasted for years. The feuding institutions in Baltimore could never get it off the ground to begin with.
But some communities have stuck with it--High Point NC, and Providence RI, to name two--and it really works. I think it's really exciting because there is the urge to just through up one's hands and say "it will always be thus."
Edited on March 3, 2012 at 11:15pmSep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
PracticalMary: If it really actually works he will most likely end up being fired like the teacher in New York (book/movie- too lazy to look up). Or ignored, like the teacher in California (book: Crazy Like a Fox). I just re-read my post and it is so cynical. Trends have to start somewhere and the originators are often ridiculed and punished. I will read his book. I am adding that I think we are going see a great change in black culture in the US over the next 10 years- an awakening of sorts. · 1 hour ago
Edited 1 hour ago
As I said in the post above, local politics can really screw it up. But I think there is hope. I think you'll enjoy the book. Here's a link to the project's web-site that also has some interesting information.
http://www.nnscommunities.org
I hope there is the kind of awakening you describe--maybe blacks will realize that the Democrats are as much their friends now as they were in the 1950s, the 1920s, the 1870s, the 1860s, etc. They've just donned a velvet glove these days.
Edited on March 3, 2012 at 11:14pmJun '10
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Drug legalization:
A good friend of mine has a great argument against drug legalization: every time he hears someone talking about how awesome communism would be by pointing to Cuba as a viable example, that person is always smoking a joint.
You either get that argument, or you don't.
Mar '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Tenther
Well, blacks are incarcerated at 10 times the rate per capita that whites are. I think the left goes wrong in assuming this means the police are racist, which is not true. But that's largely the message that we hear. A young black man in the ghetto has grown up in a world with few regular adult males in their lives, terrible schools, ever-present danger, constant police searches etc. It gives them a different, insular world-view.
· 10 hours ago
It's true that the incarceration rate among blacks is very much greater than among the population as a whole, but it's only part of the story and far from the most important part.
If the poodle media were not shills for the Democrats, they might give coverage to the fact that blacks are about ten times more likely to be victims of crime than whites and if the police were trully racist the most harm they could do to blacks would be to ignore black-on-black crime. Instead the media glamorizes the criminals, smears the police, and loans it's megaphone to race hustlers and poverty pimps.
Mar '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Tenther
Yeah...ok.: Without a similar culture of Christianity and the family to support and influence behavior; we've pretty much concluded that people exist (e.g. in Afghanistan) in tribal environments that do not coexist with contemporary western values.
It seems we also have tribal environments, along with honor killing, within the single-parent wasteland regions of the United States. · 28 minutes ago
I can't help but think that the fact that in some locales mostblack men end up in prison at some point contributes to the high rates of single-parenthood. · 10 hours ago
No. You have the cause and effect exactly backward. Read Ann Coulter's Guilty. The level of feigned outrage it provoked proves she is right and that the left knows it.
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Mind-altering drugs and addiction-related social pathologies are enormous problems. The victims often slide unaware into the grip of substances that cripple self-insight into the problem.
Nevertheless, I agree that the war on drugs is a failure and should be ended.
As Milton Friedman once observed, the US has two problems: one is drug-addiction, the second is drug-related crime. Drug-related crime can be ended at the stroke of a pen, freeing resources to devote to the first problem.
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Andrew Stuttaford,in a 2006 post on the Corner, quotes a 1990 letter the late Milton Friedman wrote to Bill Bennett.
Edited on March 4, 2012 at 4:19amRe: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
[continued from last post]
Nov '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
I was shocked and outraged when I heard the black abortion stats (NY state esp.), and I thought, boy it's all going to break loose now. Genocide, self-genocide?, and people are thinking what are the roots of this situation. It didn't explode (amazing and actually depressing) but there is a definite groundswell building. This is definitely more than just prolife-vs-prochoice. Also, there are many, many professional and middle class blacks going about their business and know who is not working and why. There is empathy, sure, but once again why are so many really going down the path to destruction...
Sep '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
It seems to me that whenever a poor, young, minority woman finds herself pregnant, there are always white, middle-to-upper class, feminist Liberals, her "friends," offering to liquidate her child for her.
Nov '10
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
Murder is the first thing that happens when there is conflict in the Black drug culture. The White drug culture seldom resorts to murder. No one is going to change that. If it is to change it will be done by the players, not the reformers. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
The A&E show called “The First 48” follows homicide cops in large cities. Almost all the victims and all the perps are Black. Maybe one show in ten involves a murder among Whites. Once in a while, not often, the victim is White and the perp Black. If there has ever been a Black victim and a White perp I haven’t seen it, and I watch that show religiously. I don’t believe the producers have planned it to show only Black murders. They’d be hanged from the nearest tree if they were caught doing that.
If Blacks stopped killing each other the USA would have the lowest murder rate in the world. Murder among Blacks is so bad it skews the makeup of the Black population so that females vastly outnumber males because the murder victims and perps are overwhelmingly male.
Dec '11
Re: Book Recommendation: David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot"
You should look up the stop the violence movement started by KRS-1 in 1989.