Wednesday, August 14, 2019

This looks like an interesting book

Just saw a review of Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice on Crooked Timers. Here's how the review begins
America is very good at some things and very bad at others. We produce a steady flow of scientific, cultural, and engineering successes—in the past five years we can lay claim to a drug that cures hepatitis C, Hamilton: The Musical, and self-driving cars. And yet, we perform just this side of miserable at addressing core social and economic challenges. We are among the world’s leaders in income inequality, obesity rates, drug overdose deaths, and per capita greenhouse gas emissions. And, we rank first, that is worst, in the proportion of citizens in jail at about seven people per thousand. Even more troubling, blacks are six times as likely as whites to be behind bars.

Why is this so? And what is to be done? In their exceptional book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice, economists Brendan O’ Flaherty and Rajiv Sethi examine our troubled, racist criminal justice system with depth, maturity, pragmatism, and focus.
Sounds interesting, doesn't it? The review gets into more detail; go read it and then read the book! And then, hopefully, change your paradigms. . .

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