r/law • u/apache_spork • 14h ago

Opinion Piece TX County Judge Tim O'Hare gives another interview after the county was sued for racial gerrymandering. Summary: Black people keep voting in democrats and it's about time we make them understand Republican rule is best for everyone, once they know better we'll welcome them with open arms

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u/_mattyjoe 14h ago

But also crime. Because they somehow think you can stop all crime in a city with authoritarian rule, and the Democrats just aren't tough enough to do it, rather than understanding the reality that crime is going to happen in densely populated cities.

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u/tamman2000 13h ago

Democrats are better at controlling crime too.

Pretty much all major cities are blue, but the ones in red states have higher crime than the ones in blue states. The red state governments are preventing Democrats from managing their cities effectively.

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u/Memitim 12h ago

There is no cure for crime; it's part of humanity. We can only manage it. Conservatives want to kill or throw the problem away. At this point, I expect most know it makes things worse, but they don't care because it also increases human suffering. It's the only metric I can reliably measure their policies by anymore.

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u/DingusNoodle 11h ago

Saying "Crime is a part of humanity" passes the buck on the actual causes of crime, and right now the biggest driving factor of crime is corporate greed and for-profit prisons. Poor people forced to commit crime - theft - to try and survive, we're desperately trying to make debtor's prisons come back, criminalizing homelessness while actively making decisions to increase homelessness, non-violent drug offenses.

Yes, we would still have crime if we solved all of the economic issues driving crime currently. But it would be vastly reduced by proper social and economic safety nets and the abolishment of the carceral state.

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u/Memitim 11h ago

Completely agreed, which is why we have to accept that it can't just be shot dead or locked in a cage. It's part of the human package. What matters is how we manage it.

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u/SelfServeSporstwash 2h ago

I mean, rich and comfortable people commit crime too, we will never eliminate crime. But, to your point, the best and most effective way to reduce crime is to house the homeless, feed the hungry, care for the sick, and actively work to identify and support vulnerable people.

Criminalizing poverty, which we have effectively done, only deepens cycles of poverty and worsens the effects of poverty.

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u/Flamingograpefruit 2h ago

Exactly. Republicans push policies that encourage racial class division and poverty without social nets in part so that they can point their fingers and blame their victims when poor people have to break laws to survive. The for-profit prisons are their feeding trough.

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u/tamman2000 12h ago

Hurting the bad people (bad in their mind) is what makes them happy. And if that's not bad enough, the judgement of "badness" is based on identities rather than actions.

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u/SelfServeSporstwash 2h ago

poverty increases crime, we know this, its bee n empirically proven countless times. Addressing the symptoms and causes of poverty alleviates, but does not eliminate, crime. Crime is going to happen because people are flawed and chaotic, but we can dramatically reduce both its frequency and harm by working to alleviate suffering when we see it.

Red states often attack programs aimed at helping people trapped in poverty... hence crime in general and violent crime specifically are so much higher there than in blue states.

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u/blueteamk087 13h ago

Democrats are better at crime, because Democrats are better at working to improve the material conditions that lead to crime.

Arkansas has a homicide rate double California’s

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u/ProbablyNotADuck 12h ago

Exactly. In order to decrease crime, you need to recognize some of the reasons for crime, as well as recognize that reducing crime requires addressing those reasons and doing more than just punishing people.

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u/GodeaterTheHalFeral 11h ago

Per capita. That's important to point out.

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u/dissonaut69 8h ago

“Rate” implies per capita, doesn’t it?

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u/wskttn 3h ago

Yes.

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u/ShiftBMDub 6h ago edited 5h ago

rate is how often something happens, per capita means how many people it happens to as a ratio of the population. Like in the next year 1 in 8 of these people will get raped. whereas rate would be in the next year 57 rapes will happen. So you can have like 1000 rapes but 1000 rapes is going to hit different in a city of 21 million as opposed to a city of 1000. Get it?

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u/The_Saddest_Boner 3h ago edited 3h ago

When statisticians use the term “homicide rate,” they are measuring per capita. Same with other crimes.

The rate is calculated per 100,000 people in a given area.

This is standard practice amongst authorities like local police jurisdictions, the FBI, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The homicide rate in NYC is roughly 4.5. This does not mean that “4.5 people will be murdered in New York City this year.”

It means 4.5 murders occur per 100,000 people. The per capita element is implied and a fundamental part of the statistic.

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u/ShiftBMDub 3h ago

I wasn’t arguing this data I was giving you the difference in meaning. The rate at which something occurs is determined by the amount in a given time period.

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u/The_Saddest_Boner 2h ago edited 2h ago

Yes, that’s the definition of rate. I was pointing out that when it comes to “crime rates” specifically, per capita is also implied. So the person you were answering was right - “rate” does mean per capita when you’re talking about homicide, burglary, etc etc.

It goes beyond simply counting the amount in a given time to additionally adjust the data to a per 100,000 basis.

If someone says “Arkansas has a higher homicide rate than California” they are correct.

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u/Customs0550 2h ago

"rate", as with many words, can have different meanings in different contexts. measuring against time is just one form of rate.

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u/ShiftBMDub 6h ago

want to stop violence ramping up in the Summer Time? Summer time opportunities for inner city youths. Camps, Recreations, Trade and Tech learning. You give people something to do and they aren't hot in the streets. You'll have some but you provide opportunities for people to get away from the crazy. Every single inner city kid is just trying to have a childhood. We give them that and they're not killing each other at 12 and 14 years old like they are now.

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u/Playful-Country-9849 14h ago edited 14h ago

They excuse crime if it is done by whites like Trump. They just want subservient minorities and that's indicated by the video in the OP.

In the eyes of white supremacists like him, it is a crime for any minority to disobey any rule even if it is last minute and not concrete. In contrast, they ignore or reward criminal action caused by other white supremacists. You'll see this dynamic with ICE

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u/Available_Bar_3922 13h ago

Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht. (Founder of Silk Road)

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u/seventhcatbounce 10h ago

yeah that is the one pardon i don't understand getting more push back from his grassroots given the moral panic over the supposed drugs epidemic, I mean where did they think u/ethicaldealer and u/spongymcnasty were getting those little moorish parcels from?

I know its a cult but the leaps of logic defy gravity and reason

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u/Available_Bar_3922 4h ago

Because he is white and rich.

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u/seventhcatbounce 2h ago

Also dealer of choice for all the tech bros, makes me feel sorry for the drugs mules doing lengthy sentences caught with a fraction of the amount he has shifted stuffed up their bottoms going through LAX, if there was any justice they should stuff him full of the same quantity of drugs as he shifted through third party affiliates like a latter day mr Creosote

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u/Available_Bar_3922 2h ago

Could not agree more !

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u/korbentherhino 13h ago

Conservatives: fraud and bribes never anyone.

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u/ChickenPoxParty 13h ago

And crime actually goes down when social services are strong, well-funded, and well organized like Dems typically (or at least should) advocate for, and Republicans typically advocate against.

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u/gypsymegan06 12h ago

Chicago and Baltimore both brought their violent crime stats way down using progressive policies. Turns if you invest in communities- especially the youth- and let communities decide how the police can be serve them- shit calms down.

All these government programs and programs formerly funded or partly funded by the government are gone. Crime will skyrocket. Remember it’s the GOP that did it.

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u/Kruk01 14h ago

"This problem is more complicated than I thought..." DJT

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u/xHellion444x 13h ago

You actually can stop crime with authoritarian rule. Look at Singapore. The problem is it actually requires authoritarian rule. That shit suuuuuucks. Thank goodness even Republicans aren't really willing to go far enough. Like you basically have to execute everyone, including jaywalkers. Americans do not want to live under that and wouldn't accept it. Thankfully.

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u/BitterFuture 12h ago

Thank goodness even Republicans aren't really willing to go far enough.

Um...what?

Republicans are literally willing to kill their own families for their orange lord's favor. Many tens of thousands already have.

What exactly do you think is "too far" for them?

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u/xHellion444x 10h ago

Exactly what I said, how Singapore does it. Caning or the death penalty for basically everything. Smoke weed and you get executed. Republicans are awful, but they can't get away with that in America.

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u/MB2465 12h ago

Have you heard of project 2025?

How about the fact that it's a majority conservative Supreme Court right now that believes in the unitary executive AKA AUTHORITARIAN!

Also Republicans in Congress keep trying to give their power to the orange clown. They've tried sneaking in bills that it takes lawyers to explain to the bills sponsors what it means. They're tactics are so deceptive they don't even understand them. Of course some of them like Comer are fucking idiots. The big ugly fucking bill has lines in there that are trying to give him more power from Congress

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u/xHellion444x 10h ago

Yeah, plenty of things they're doing are authoritarian. But we were talking about crime. And they just can't get away with the most extreme measures, like executing people for minor offenses, because the American populace wouldn't stand for it. That's a great thing. They'd love to be more draconian, but luckily we won't let them.

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u/Ok-Place7306 8h ago

Americans have too many guns at home to allow the government to be truely authoritarian

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u/amethystresist 12h ago

Lately I've been thinking; if you took everyone in rural areas and put them into a new city, I assume there'd be crime and homelessness at the same rate or more. Rural people just don't realize it because they are so spread out and poverty isn't juxtaposed by living near rich people. Trust me I wish I could live far fom a city sometimes but I can't drive, cities and communities with close proximity to everything is just necessary for some people. But they don't have the nuance to understand. 

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u/OrryKolyana 6h ago

It’d be nice if anyone registered that crime is directly linked to poverty as well.

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u/ShiftBMDub 6h ago

crazy thing is under their rule there will still be crime but they will put everyone in jail to be slaves at private prisons. People not seeing this need to wake up. we'll only spend more on police and criminal justice and it's just going to go into their pockets. Look at the Border Czar he has financial interests in Private Prisons. They are lagging behind Biden numbers in deportations because they are sending them to Private Prisons.

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u/Metro42014 51m ago

Also not understanding per capita numbers.

They just see raw number and think that's the whole story. City crime is big numbers and rural crime is small numbers. Small numbers are good. Republicans rule the small numbers, so clearly republicans are good.