How to fix the American cop

To stop murders, solve the ones that have already happened

The "Ferguson-effect" isn't the whole story.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

After a decades-long steady decline, murder has jumped back to center stage in many American cities. Though the overall rate across the country showed only a minor increase, in several cities it is a genuine emergency. Chicago had 762 murders in 2016, an increase of over 50 percent in one year. Baltimore had 318, off slightly from 2015 but still 50 percent more than 2014. This raises two obvious questions. What is driving the murders, and how might it be stopped?

It's a good opportunity to read Jill Leovy's Ghettoside, an extraordinarily good work on murder in the modern American city. It advances a deceptively simple thesis: To stop homicide, police should solve the ones that happen.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.