Monday, June 1, 2020

Justice and Disorder

Minneapolis police were overrun on Friday as neighborhoods and a police precinct burned.

Police were pelted with rocks and bottles amid "Defund the Police" signs.

A police car drove into a crowd surrounding it in New York City, but even Mayor Bill de Blasio noted it would not have happened if protesters had not been threatening.

The risk is that, as confrontations escalate, some police will lose their cool and someone will be killed, producing another cycle of protest and violence.

Roland Fryer, the Harvard economist, has found that when a high-profile police incident goes viral and is followed by a Justice Department investigation, homicides and felonies spike in succeeding months.

Others have encouraged rage against police, and so-called social justice prosecutors have risen to power in such cities as Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis.

Most of them live far from the burning neighborhoods as they denounce police.

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