Give Hanna Rosin at The Atlantic Online credit for investigating something most journalists wouldn't even think of touching. Her article is a long read, but an important one.
Rosin's report out of Memphis (HT Instapundit) chronicles how a criminologist husband and his housing-expert wife made a correlation that makes so much sense, you just know it will encounter fierce resistance from media and political elites (bolds are mine):
(Richard) Janikowski might not have managed to pinpoint the cause of this pattern (of spreading crime) if he hadn’t been married to Phyllis Betts, a housing expert at the University of Memphis. ..... Betts had been evaluating the impact of one of the city government’s most ambitious initiatives: the demolition of the city’s public-housing projects, as part of a nationwide experiment to free the poor from the destructive effects of concentrated poverty. Memphis demolished its first project in 1997. The city gave former residents federal “Section 8” rent-subsidy vouchers and encouraged them to move out to new neighborhoods. Two more waves of demolition followed over the next nine years, dispersing tens of thousands of poor people into the wider metro community.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓If police departments are usually stingy with their information, housing departments are even more so. Getting addresses of Section 8 holders is difficult, because the departments want to protect the residents’ privacy. Betts, however, helps the city track where the former residents of public housing have moved. Over time, she and Janikowski realized that they were doing their fieldwork in the same neighborhoods.
About six months ago, they decided to put a hunch to the test. Janikowski merged his computer map of crime patterns with Betts’s map of Section 8 rentals. ..... the match was near-perfect. On the merged map, dense violent-crime areas are shaded dark blue, and Section 8 addresses are represented by little red dots. All of the dark-blue areas are covered in little red dots, like bursts of gunfire. The rest of the city has almost no dots.
Betts remembers her discomfort as she looked at the map. The couple had been musing about the connection for months, but they were amazed—and deflated—to see how perfectly the two data sets fit together. She knew right away that this would be a “hard thing to say or write.” Nobody in the antipoverty community and nobody in city leadership was going to welcome the news that the noble experiment that they’d been engaged in for the past decade had been bringing the city down, in ways they’d never expected. But the connection was too obvious to ignore, and Betts and Janikowski figured that the same thing must be happening all around the country. Eventually, they thought, they’d find other researchers who connected the dots the way they had, and then maybe they could get city leaders, and even national leaders, to listen.
If the reaction of Robert Lipscomb, the head of the Memphis Housing Authority, is any indication, that's going to be a long slog:
“You’ve already marginalized people and told them they have to move out,” he told me irritably, just as he’s told Betts. “Now you’re saying they moved somewhere else and created all these problems? That’s a really, really unfair assessment. You’re putting a big burden on people who have been too burdened already, and to me that’s, quote-unquote, criminal.”
What's "quote-unquote, criminal" is that someone who sees the facts in front of his face (and I would surmise, really knows better) won't acknowledge their existence.
Old Media reports have typically made those objecting to Section 8 appear "racist" and "paranoid" for expressing concerns that it would spread out the crime problem. In Memphis, and I suspect elsewhere, it turns out that they had a point. Some opponents vilified in the press would seem to have an apology due them. Good luck getting it -- and in getting anyone else in Old Media interested in investigating the Section 8 crime-export problem elsewhere.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
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Comments Policy
Political correctness will
June 21, 2008 - 10:09 ET by motherbeltPolitical correctness will be the downfall of this country.
The first step in solving a problem is admitting that you have one.
Shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out! - Marge Simpson
Motherbelt, I completely agree
June 21, 2008 - 10:30 ET by jefflebowskiI just finished re-reading Atlas Shrugged and it is amazing that the happenings with government in the book are what is taking place now in the congress. If you haven't read it, rush to the used book store today!! It will reinforce your hate of the left!
One of the lessons of John Galt is A is A. Political correctness changes that. We can no longer place blame on those who deserve blame because the blame always ends up returning to white people...especially white men. The "R" word is the worst appellation a public figure can be called. It kills careers...but only if one is white. I have dedicated my blog to exposing this hypocrisy.
Mother, I agree, political correctness is, and will, end up killing this great nation. A is always A.
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...
jeff
June 21, 2008 - 10:45 ET by BlondeUnsane's going to log on momentarily and give you a smooch. He loves that book.
I hate PC. We should have PC-free weekends around here.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Blonde, a simple thank you will do!
June 21, 2008 - 10:51 ET by jefflebowskiTell Unsane to keep his lips to himself but we Atlas fans have a bond!
The first time I read the book about 10 years ago and was travelling a lot for business. People would see me in the airport and come up and ask me "where are you in the book?" Has this happened yet? It was really neat. It is the greatest argument against liberalism I have ever found. I read it before each election to remind me how much I hate libs.
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...
That was a figure of speech, jeff
June 21, 2008 - 10:56 ET by BlondeBut you are correct, Ayn Rand's novel is memorable. I read it probably twenty years ago. It may be time to dig it out and read it again.
Hey...we could have "Will Barak's election make Atlas shrug?" T-shirts. Literate people would get the question....maybe even a couple of libs.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Blonde, Atlas Shrugged t-shirts..I love it!!
June 21, 2008 - 11:16 ET by jefflebowskiBlonde, I think Atlas Shrugged tshirts would be a great moneymaker! We need to talk! lol
It's funny, but in a lot of ways I have considered my not voting for McPain as a form of shrugging. The Republicans have ignored the conservatives for years and still count on our support. I have shrugged and not giving them my support. Like Francisco D'Anconia said in the book, "Brother, you got what you asked for!"
Will the tshirts sell? Will Obama (Mr. Thompson) win? Will the Republicans wake up? Who is John Galt?
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...
Will Atlas Shrug?
June 21, 2008 - 11:21 ET by BlondeI don't know...but we get the great Barry O as our next CIC....I may consider it, seriously.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
AMEN MB !
June 21, 2008 - 10:30 ET by larry on LIjust look what it has accomplished in Canada
This is a perfect example of
June 21, 2008 - 10:23 ET by robert108This is a perfect example of what happens when we create an entitlement class; the old "projects" were the first stage, now Section 8 housing. People need to be more responsible for the consequences of their actions, not less responsible for them. If you know that big govt will always come to "rescue" you, why do anything to better yourself?
Not only...
June 21, 2008 - 11:05 ET by ontheright...does this "entitlement without accountability" ruse, as developed by liberal Dimocrats as a humanitarian "helping hand", perpetuate self-induced oppression, it also strips the value of the section 8 and surrounding properties leaving the owners with no viable recourse and in most cases, worthless properties. I have experienced this firsthand.
Furthermore, this devaluation is irreversible unless the housing "project" is reduced to rubble and the blanket of crime is thrown over another geographic location. Unlike a land-fill (which reduces near-by property values during the short term), the section 8 projects cannot be recycled or rejuvinated unless the criminal element and otherwise general population of said projects is either eradicated or moved, respectively...truly the definition of conundrum.
If it waddles, quacks and flies...call it what it is.
You can take the man out of the inner city; but you cannot take the inner city out of the man.
Is there a link to the map?
June 21, 2008 - 10:39 ET by MikeIf anybody has a link to the merged map, I would love to make a T-Shirt and wear it to the next Obama rally.
This is a perfect example of
June 21, 2008 - 10:51 ET by c5thenNot letting the facts interfere with a perfectly good social theory. This thinking is what brought us the "projects" in the first place. You concentrate poverty and you also concentrate the crime. In order to survive in that environment, the "regular" folks had to change and become more "criminal like". Now you've raised an entire generation in that environment and then disperse them into the rest of the population. It's not that hard to figure out.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Actually, this shouldn't be
June 21, 2008 - 11:06 ET by dscottActually, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone especially liberals. If you will remember it was precisely because of crime that most of the high density public housing was torn down. Then the enabling government morons scaled down to apartment buildings and small projects, what was the result? Concentrated Crime! Then they responded by tossing anyone with a drug crime conviction out of the project. The response from liberals was, it's unfair! Now they rented out apartments across a city and spread them into neighborhoods of law abiding citizens.
So how did we get into this mess? Self righteous liberals claiming the country was rich and the taxpayer should dole out wealth to everyone in the false name of equality of outcome using children as the excuse. Explain to me how we are rich and at the same time have a national debt of over 8 trillion dollars? What's the claim liberals use to justify this rotten mess? Where are the children supposed to live? In the street? Yeah, so here we are in the position of being over a barrel - tossing kids out in the street. The reason we are in this position is because the very people we were supposed to help turned around and starting popping out more children as a cottage industry. We essentially put ourselves in a hostage situation where the children are the hostages and we are the victim's family doling out ransom money on a monthly basis. The worst part of this whole fiasco is that the victims (children) are experiencing Stockholm syndrome where they form a bond with their captors and then become like Patty Hearst.
The only way to break the cycle is to end the enabling and stop allowing children to be taken hostage. What needs to happen starts with the Family Law system who helped create the hostage situation by giving default custody to the female having the child out of wedlock. Knowing the Family Law system is infested with enabling socialist liberals means basically the only way to break the cycle is to disband the Family Law system and start over. What has to happen is awarding custody to the male who impregnated the female and then award child support. In this way, all incentive to get pregnant is totally gone. I guarantee you that within one generation the poverty problem is solved and furthermore crime will plummet since the children will not be born to losers passing on their losing attitudes. Imagine how many victims of crime we could stop from ever becoming victims if we acted in the national best interest rather than enabling continual failure?
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Very well said...
June 21, 2008 - 11:15 ET by ontheright...I couldn't agree with you more. As I posted above, re-positioning the "blanket of crime" does nothing to solve the problem. In fact, it just moves the infection elsewhere.
The "outbreak" must be quarantined, then the root cause can be determined (as if it is not already known) and, like you said, measurable and sustainable change can begin...and this change is not the feel good change as spouted by the Obamessiah either.
I encourage you to read all four pages
June 21, 2008 - 11:16 ET by mom_roxFascinating article. Tom, thank you for posting this.
Many say that flawed intelligence reports led to the invasion of Iraq. In this article, a flawed sociology study by James Rosenbaum led to the HOPE VI program which ultimately led to increased crime.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
THAT ....
June 21, 2008 - 11:55 ET by Tom Blumeris a great analogy.
How many hundreds of billions has THAT "flawed intelligence" cost us society?
There should have been a red flag in that study when 46 out of the original 114 stopped cooperating. How much do you wanna bet that there was plenty of crime in that 46? How hard would it have been to figure out if that were the case (if the studiers really wanted to look)?
Looks like we based a critical public policy decision that fit a convenient, agenda-driven template on the basis of 68 people. Zheesh.
And, imagine that, it all started on Obama's South Side of Chicago. I'm so not surprised.
The 2nd red flag
June 21, 2008 - 13:13 ET by mom_roxIf the 1st red flag of study participants didn't tip you off, the 2nd red flag was that Newsweek and 60 Minutes gushed over the Rosenbaum study.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
Causality
June 21, 2008 - 11:39 ET by Remixer96I'd be interested to know the causal chain behind this data.
I mean, I just woldn't expect that people who just moved into a nicer neighborhood at a discounted price would want to risk that status by engaging in crime... so what are the driving forces here?
The driving force? Its
June 21, 2008 - 13:44 ET by bassndudeThe driving force? Its called goverment handouts. You give a bunch of folks money and a place to live, and not demand anything in return? No work involved? Food stamps for beer and liquor, or whatever, and not require anything from them except they must be willing to cash the check. Thats the driving force. They have learned that they get something for nothing.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
That doesn't explain crime
June 21, 2008 - 22:27 ET by Remixer96bassndude:
Even if you give someone infinite money, that doesn't mean they turn to a life of crime. A life of laziness perhaps, but I don't see the link between giving someone money and them then commiting violent crimes.
That just doesn't follow.
Idleness ....
June 21, 2008 - 23:18 ET by Tom Blumer.... and a rap culture/gang culture that glorifies criminality.
I don't see the link of
June 22, 2008 - 12:33 ET by Conservative VoiceI don't see the link of being poor makes one violent and a criminal either....but giving money to them makes them spoiled and thereby when it gets tough, its too easy to quit. When fathers quit on their families, kids grow up looking for father figures in gangs...hence the connection between giving money away and crime.
Conservative Voice
June 22, 2008 - 13:11 ET by bassndudeWhen fathers quit on their families, kids grow up looking for father figures in gangs...hence the connection between giving money away and crime.
That is the link. Part of it. You think about it, and I am sure the rest will come to you. It is not being poor that makes one criminal, it is a lack of direction, a lack of guidance, a lack of family, a lack of dicipline. Those things go hand in hand with people living in the "projects". Used to be, if you were poor, you worked. Now you sit and smoke, watch TV and suck down the suds. This corrupts your way of thinking and your hero is a gang member who is in prision for murder.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
They were already criminals before they disbursed
June 21, 2008 - 20:20 ET by GrannyGrump42The reason crime was high in the projects was because a high percentage of the people living there were criminals. When you send them forth, they bring their crime with them. They're not going to give up their chosen career path (armed robbery, burglary, drug dealing) just because they've moved into nicer quarters.
Perhaps we just differ
June 21, 2008 - 22:34 ET by Remixer96grannygrump42:
Perhaps our opinions differ, but I'm not inclined to think that some people simply are criminals as if such a thing were in their DNA. I believe people respond to incentives. One argument made against concentration of the poor is that it leads to crime. So my question, as exemplified in this study, is when we take people out of this environment, what drives them to commit more crime of the same type? That they simply exist as evildoers is not an explanation for any incentive for further crime.
Because they have already
June 22, 2008 - 09:42 ET by dscottBecause they have already been ruined from learning poor attitudes and false success by receiving hand outs from the government. You are correct, criminality is not one of genetics, but one of environment. However, not as the environment liberals normally associate, i.e. plenty of food and housing as in equality of outcome, but nurture - the skills and character passed on by living with people of poor character. You can take the person out of a criminal inspiring environment but you can't take the criminal out of the person.
The answer is two fold, 1st you must break the passing on of poor character and 2ndly those who are already ruined must be reformed. I have already pointed out how to break the passing on of poor character in a previous post. The 2nd one is more difficult, that requires a religious re-awakening, a total change in world view.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
For the criminal, there is
June 22, 2008 - 12:30 ET by Conservative VoiceFor the criminal, there is a nice gated community waiting for their arrival.
Seriously, until the person is invested in his community, he is not motivated to make it better.
No one should be surprised
June 21, 2008 - 12:18 ET by jdhawkNo one should be surprised by this report. Remember the hushed up reports of immediate and palpulble increases in crime wherever the "victims" of Katrina were sent to?
These people, the richest poor people on the planet, get something for nothing and spend all their time looking for ways to get even more. Of course, they do this with a sneer and never a thank you.
By the way, the libs have been sticking it to us in other ways. We thought that the 1994 bill that revamped the hand out system was good and it was. What did the Congress do immediately? They just redistributed the money through the IRS. Now, someone making under a certain amount of money gets thousands of dollars in "refunds" - besides paying no taxes whatsoever.
The next target of the libs is not just raising the ceiling on payrole taxes, but to begin the elimination of them for people earning modest incomes.
The insidious track that the libs are leading us to is that everybody will in some way be beholding to the government. So, all they have to do is squeeze you a bit to get you to go along with what ever else is yet to be fulfilled on their agenda.
Vote the thieves out of office this November.
excellent point
June 21, 2008 - 13:07 ET by mom_roxjd - You're absolutely correct regarding the relocation of Katrina evacuees. The Houston police department stated the connection, but Mayor Bill White would never acknowledge it.
A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944
Oh, but we felt it, all
June 21, 2008 - 13:10 ET by Lord ElicaniOh, but we felt it, all right. What was it, a tripling in crime?
Murrow turning over in his grave
Murrow turning over in his grave
Ed Murrow had a child and the damn thing went wild
- Lindsey Buckingham
Precisely, mom
June 21, 2008 - 13:11 ET by BlondeThe last time I was in downtown Houston, I was approached by a panhandler with a distinctly cajun accent. Go figure.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
He probably just needed
June 21, 2008 - 13:18 ET by Clear thinkerHe probably just needed money to buy some Shrimp.
;-)
45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm
Where do we go from here?
June 21, 2008 - 13:35 ET by Mike SJanikowski has certainly identified a problem that was hidden in plain sight, and yet very intuitive if you look at it from the perspective that he points us to.
Janikowski's theory of "critical mass" is mentioned briefly in the article, and I think this may be the way out of this mess. Certainly concentrating the crime back into the projects is not the answer. We have to find the level of section 8 housing that does not lead to a crime epidemic in the new neighborhoods.
Like the Iraq analogy, there are some that will only complain that we have created a problem and that we shouldn't have done it. That is not a solution. Once we have created a situation, we have to try different strategies and stay committed to solving the problems.
Where do we go from here? I
June 21, 2008 - 13:50 ET by bassndudeWhere do we go from here? I would say Rikers Island. From what you said, seems to me you are in favor of moving hard cases into peaceful neighborhoods and leaving them to disrupt the honest people who work for a living, rather than moving them out and letting them co-exist among themselves. I would say, if they are not really trying to better themselves, by working, not stealing a better class of stereo, move them back to the projects.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Here's a thought, you would
June 22, 2008 - 03:20 ET by Conservative VoiceHere's a thought, you would think we Americans would of learned something from JamesTown Virginia... Free things causes people to not take responsibility...which translates to more crime. God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden because it was for their own good.
I have seen this in my town
June 21, 2008 - 17:58 ET by kd5463I live in a small, upper middle class town in northern New Jersey. A few years back, due to our wonderful state supreme court here in the Soviet Socialst Republic of NJ, we had to build mini projects so people from towns like Newark could come and live here. In the 80 years of the town's existence before this we had 1 murder and maybe about 3 or 4 serious assaults. Since the building of this mini project we have had about 5 or 6 serious assaults there including a stabbing by someone who drove here from Newark to comitt the crime angainst her "baby daddy's" new girlfriend. There are also a few students from the mini project in our school system who have been extremely disruptive and violent. But of course they will never be kicked out becuase then we would be "bigoted."
Anybody know an owner of
June 22, 2008 - 01:53 ET by maggieqpublicAnybody know an owner of residential rental property? Has that owner expressed an opinion about renting to tenants holding Section 8 vouchers? In my area, Section 8 voucher allowances are quite generous, and a landlord is often able to charge higher rents to the Section 8 tenant. Then why do so many rental ads read “no Section 8”? The landlords I know want to rent to people who have jobs. The landlords I know don’t like being told by the Section 8 bureaucracy that the 1-yr-old kitchen range must be replaced because the built-up filth caused the elements to fail… or the 1-yr-old carpet must be replaced because it was used as temporary storage for dirty diapers. The landlords I know don’t like visiting their rentals and finding able-bodied tenants drinking beer while watching televisions that have extension cords plugged into the laundry room outlet. The landlords I know like tenants who place their garbage in the trash cans rather than throwing their trash in the general direction of the trash cans. The landlords I know don’t like finding tiny zip-lock baggies around the property… the kind that often hold illegal drugs. The landlords I know are tired of feeling “guilty”, and they don’t. What a shock the Betts/Janikowski work indicated a correlation between Section 8 and crime.
That's about right ....
June 22, 2008 - 08:47 ET by Tom Blumer.... if enough landlords say "no Section 8," Uncle Sam will force some of them to take Section 8, whether they like it or not.
I would be interested in seeing/hearing landlord stories.
This isn’t a landlord
June 23, 2008 - 11:26 ET by maggieqpublicThis isn’t a landlord story, but you might be interested to read about a Section 8 controversy in a community about 40 miles to the east of me…
http://www.brentwoodpress.com/article.cfm?page=1&articleID=19505
Rub It In
June 22, 2008 - 06:05 ET by kilrod=
Remember, only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier
Wow, kilrod
June 22, 2008 - 09:24 ET by BlondeThat's an awesome post.
The only thing that would make it perfect would be some cites for your stats.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Blonde
June 22, 2008 - 12:20 ET by kilrodHmm, i copied and pasted the welfare poem from an e-mail i received, there was'nt any links to the stats, i took it at face value for the message it conveyed on how the so called "victimized", take advantage of the American taxpayer due to the policies of the lib-O-tards. One thing i am sure of is the poem and the e-mail did'nt originate from a bleeding-heart, fart-faced liberal.
(GRINS) kilrod
Remember, only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier
You mean a bleeding heart,
June 22, 2008 - 14:04 ET by dscottYou mean a bleeding heart, self appointed, meddling, busy body, know-it-all who gives contradictory advice and has no clue what they are talking about??? Is that the liberal you're implying?
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Yes Sir, Mr. dscott
June 22, 2008 - 18:38 ET by kilrodYes Sir, we are talking about the same den of snakes, so to make a short story longer, i added the "fart faced" part because liberals seem to suffer from acute flatulance of the brain, thus they are prone to "brain farts" almost any time they speak, which creates a foul vapor like halo around there countenance, thus the designation "fart faced liberals". You can smell em a mile away but you caint tell em a dam thing.
(GRINS) kilrod
Remember, only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier
This is happening in our city
June 22, 2008 - 08:11 ET by ChiefE9We live in a stable plat. However over the hill from us are smaller homes with no property and Section 8 people are moving into these homes and apartments close by and the crime is rapidly rising in our city.
Just blame Bill Clinton and Cuomo who decided to tear down the project housing and disperse them to good areas.
Remember they won't have the problem as they live in upscale mansions/large homes.
Y'know ....
June 22, 2008 - 08:50 ET by Tom BlumerI've just acquired a higher level of sympathy for those who like the gated community/PUD concept, esp if it works to keep Section 8 rental housing at bay.
No Kidding
June 22, 2008 - 18:23 ET by kdoliverI live a nice area of Alexandria, VA. The house next door was at one time rented by a Section 8 family. The police were over here fairly regularly, mainly for noise and vandalism complaints. The City of Alexandria has a crime website. During their tenure in the house there were numerous listing on our block. Since they moved out, almost none. And the majority of those are speeding tickets issued.
All I have to say is DUH!!!
http://thelazytriathlete.blogspot.com/