Some thoughts on New Orleans
Nicole Gelinas has a great article about some of the real problems facing New Orleans, as well as some of the successes. For all those two cry racism was the cause of poverty, Nicole notes, "New Orleans has a 28 percent poverty rate, and yes, New Orleans is 67 percent black. But nearly two-thirds of New Orleans’s blacks aren’t poor." Just as important a contributor to that city's social status is the horrible murder rate. 59 murders per 100,000 people, compared to New York City's seven. That's eight times the national average for those of you keeping track. And if that's not bad enough, durring Katrina rescue efforts, "The coroner’s early report implies that the murder rate among those stranded in Katrina’s aftermath was at least five times New Orleans’s normal murder rate. This real, not imagined, violence prevented New Orleans from getting the level of volunteer and professional help it needed after Katrina."
The whole article is long, but a wonderful read. Definitely take the time to read it in it's entirety.
UPDATE: Another section that's a must read in case you don't read the whole thing:
Before Katrina, the New Orleans Police Department took much of the blame for the rising murder rate. The force is not up to professional standards of interrogating witnesses and suspects and of collecting evidence for prosecution. Worse, just a week before Katrina hit, one cop was arrested for alleged rape and kidnapping; ten others have been arrested on criminal charges over the past two years, “ranging from shoplifting to conspiracy to rob a bank,” the Times-Picayune reports.
But federal officials and outside observers say that in fact the department, before Katrina, was a vastly improved force compared with the pre-Pennington era. Moreover, a dysfunctional prosecutor’s office and a dysfunctional state judicial system, in which only one in four murder arrests ends in a conviction, undermine the force. Only 32 percent of felony drug distributors go to jail after conviction, compared with 66 percent nationwide. Some judges mysteriously and repeatedly release violent-crime suspects on bail. From improper collection of evidence to poor prosecution to lenient and inconsistent sentencing, New Orleans cannot keep its drug dealers and violent criminals behind bars. “The perception is that the state judicial system has failed,” says James Bernazzani, the FBI’s special agent in charge of New Orleans.
Clearly the system has failed here. My question is, where did so much corruption and systematic breakdown begin? That's an open ended question, I really don't know. It seems like it would take quite a lot for an entire police force to lose the will to enforce the law. I have some guesses, some involving political correctness and other liberal accidental suicide plots. Or maybe it's just good old fashioned corruption. Either way, something's not working.
posted by Mike M @ 10/26/2005 11:09:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
What might we do with the latest Institute for Women's Policy Research Report (October 11, 2005) which significantly notes that
"the women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are especially hard-hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as they are more likely than men to be in poverty, and to head single-parent families." The Institute report adds that "of all families with related children under age 18, female-headed families make up [a staggering] 56% in the city of New Orleans versus 25.2% for the nation as a whole" (Women of Gulf Coast Key to Rebuilding After Katrina and Rita, page 1).
Seems problematic.
I was unaware of that statistic, but I'm not surprised at all. One extremely important thing to remember when discussing social problems, because of their highly complex nature is that "correlation does not equal causation". This is the first principle that should be taught in any credible statistical analysis class, as well as reinforced in every other field where critical analysis is done. That particular statistic really should say, "Of single parents with children, most of those are women" which is of course nothing new. If two people have relations and go their separate ways, by physiological fact, the woman will always get stuck with the baby. That's just how things are. This is fortunate though, because women are by their very nature, more willing to care for unexpected or unwanted children than men. Obviously not all men are deadbeats just as not all women care about their children. How many babies are found left for dead in dumpsters every year? How many aren't found? I'd also bet that 99+% of abortions are done with the consent of the mother.
I'd be interested to investigate that further. More specifically, why that rate is so much higher in NO than anywhere else. What about the culture leads that to happen? I would start looking at the side effects of outright celebrations of sin and sex such as Mardi Gras, the lack of self control among young men and women, societal disregard for proven anti-STD and anti-pregnancy practices such as chastity before marriage, and so on. These are the root causes of the problems. Whether it's pollitically correct or not, personal responsibility and choice ultimately govern every society.
The above linked article is especially good about analyzing some of the reasons for the spread of violent crime, focusing on entrenched drug culture, coupled with a corrupt and useless judicial system. It's also interesting that there's nothing especially unique about poverty rates or segregation compared with the rest of the country.
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