TPM Reader JL says we need to look beyond murder rates to race to really understand the roots of mass incarceration in the USA …

You make a fair point that when murder rates go up, people’s concerns about their safety will go up, and those concerns will probably find their way into public policy. But I think you go too far when you say that “it’s wildly unrealistic to think you wouldn’t have a generation plus of draconian laws tied to people’s fears of violence and personal safety.” Going as far overboard as we did required a lot more than a rising murder rate.

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