How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: 'It's hard work'

Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by bediger4000 on Saturday August 16, 2025 @05:31PM (#44927068)

Anybody got a feeling for whether Baltimore's crime statistics, like Washington DC's, are incorrect, under-reporting all kinds of property crime, and that Baltimore is not as tough on criminals as it ought to be?

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by cdoubled40 on Saturday August 16, 2025 @08:16PM (#44927908)

How do you suppose under-reporting property crime (provided this is actually happening in any major US city, of course) could lower the homicide rate by 40%?

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by lisbbb on Saturday August 16, 2025 @08:36PM (#44928001)

That guy over there fell backwards onto some bullets. Must have been suicide! How did they do it in the documentary film "Hot Fuzz?" Use any non-violent accident or whatever category you can get away with.

But actually, here's the real truth, buried in the article:

"In Mosby’s last two years in office, 2,186 people faced felony gun charges. Mosby dismissed about 34% and another 30% received plea bargains, mostly without imprisonment. In Bates’s first two years, the number of cases increased a bit, to 2,443. Bates only dismissed 19% of the cases, and only 10% received plea agreements. The rest were convicted – an increase of about 1,000 people sent to prison – which includes a 70% increase in homicide convictions."

They put more violent people behind bars.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by shazbotter on Sunday August 17, 2025 @12:47AM (#44928944)

And that led to under reported statistics?

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by 7speter on Sunday August 17, 2025 @12:59AM (#44928990)

Well, The Wire shows how Baltimore’s police department attempted to underreport crimes as well.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by throwawayoldie on Sunday August 17, 2025 @02:06PM (#44933571)

Well, if a fictional drama said so...

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by 7speter on Sunday August 17, 2025 @07:22PM (#44935809)

It was based on a true story, but whatever I guess

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by throwawayoldie on Sunday August 17, 2025 @07:31PM (#44935863)

And the last episode came out almost 20 years ago, based on things David Simon had heard about in the years before that.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by mitchbob on Saturday August 16, 2025 @06:24PM (#44927353)

How do you know that Washington DC's crime statistics are incorrect?

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by throwawayoldie on Saturday August 16, 2025 @08:34PM (#44927991)

I'm gonna guess the answer is, because the Leader said so.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by lisbbb on Saturday August 16, 2025 @08:34PM (#44927988)

I would say near 100% certainty--if you don't report crimes or mis-represent them, you can "fix" the crime problem without actually doing anything.

Incidentally, back when people were comparing US incarceration rates to China and noting how the US had way more people behind bars per capita (apparently) they never mentioned how China executes criminals in large numbers and very quickly, thereby keeping their official incarceration rates lower. Magic!

Is there really any doubt which nation has a worse human rights record?

I doubt Baltimore is any better than it ever was.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by BriggyDwiggs42 on Sunday August 17, 2025 @01:10AM (#44929034)

Yeah but we do actually have a massive inmate population and China isn’t really a high bar in the human rights department.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by watwut on Sunday August 17, 2025 @02:13AM (#44929306)

The only country imprisoning more people then USA is Russia ... so sense of unfairness on this point is likely off point.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by smt88 on Saturday August 16, 2025 @09:18PM (#44928164)

You can't fail to report murder. But it sounds like you've already reached a conclusion and will reject any evidence to the contrary.

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by shazbotter on Sunday August 17, 2025 @12:51AM (#44928962)

Not in the least?

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Re:How Baltimore's violent crime rate hit an all-time low: '... by watwut on Sunday August 17, 2025 @02:14AM (#44929310)

Is there any reason to think DC crimes are underreported other then wishful thinking and support for Trumps power grab?

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