Cory Booker Hasn’t Had Much Effect on Crime in Newark


In the current issue of the New Republic (not yet online) Noam Scheiber writes that Newark mayor Cory Booker’s commitment to alleviating poverty is probably quite genuine. Then this:

On top of which, Booker has been a pretty good mayor. Violent crime in Newark, while still a scourge, has declined on his watch, notwithstanding a brutal recession.

You already know what’s coming next, don’t you? Here’s violent crime in Newark:

I don’t have an axe to grind either for or against Booker, but it sure doesn’t look to me like violent crime has declined on his watch. It declined from 1995 through 2007, most likely thanks to the phaseout of leaded gasoline. Also: it’s a bit of an urban myth that crime increases during recessions. There’s actually not much of a correlation.

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Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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