Tapsearch Com EditorTwo more points on Loury's incarceration article
August 13th 2007 22:08
(Read my earlier post here and the article here.)
One, Loury found that since the 1960s, people's opinions about blacks tend to correlate more strongly with their views on crime and welfare. I'd argue this is because the '60s saw the beginning of increases in both crime and welfare, and people could more easily see who was committing the crimes and who was receiving the welfare. It quickly became obvious that the questions "How should we handle criminals?" and "How should we treat the poor?" disproportionately meant "What should we do about the black underclass?"
Two, it's been mainly the left making this connection. One can argue that conservatives use terms like "tough on crime" and "welfare queen" as code for anti-black sentiment, but liberals lay the guilt trip on forcefully and explicitly. They point out that blacks are disproportionately poor to argue for more welfare, and they protest high incarceration rates by showing how it's hurting the black community. Loury himself is guilty of making the latter argument, and he doesn't note that the correlation cuts both ways.
One, Loury found that since the 1960s, people's opinions about blacks tend to correlate more strongly with their views on crime and welfare. I'd argue this is because the '60s saw the beginning of increases in both crime and welfare, and people could more easily see who was committing the crimes and who was receiving the welfare. It quickly became obvious that the questions "How should we handle criminals?" and "How should we treat the poor?" disproportionately meant "What should we do about the black underclass?"
Two, it's been mainly the left making this connection. One can argue that conservatives use terms like "tough on crime" and "welfare queen" as code for anti-black sentiment, but liberals lay the guilt trip on forcefully and explicitly. They point out that blacks are disproportionately poor to argue for more welfare, and they protest high incarceration rates by showing how it's hurting the black community. Loury himself is guilty of making the latter argument, and he doesn't note that the correlation cuts both ways.
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