History is filled with politicians, particularly American, who have been rewarded by voters for talking tough on crime, from Richard Nixon’s “law and order” posturing to Bill Clinton’s crime bill.
But the effectiveness of “zero-tolerance” policies is fiercely debated, and there is plenty of evidence that traditional policing inevitably leads to discrimination against minorities and poorer people. Combine new technology with these approaches and the consequences appear bleak.
So what does work? This week, we found stories of radical approaches to crime that have produced startling results.
Gadsden is Florida’s only majority black county, and like many such areas in the US, it has historically struggled to bring down high rates of poverty and crime. Morris Young was elected sheriff of Gadsden in 2004, making him the longest-serving black sheriff in Florida state history.
In the past 14 years, crime in the county has almost halved, while the number of arrests of young people is down by more than 75%. How did he do it? Jamiles Lartey found out, with the help of photographer Fred R Conrad.
In 2005, the UN declared Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, while the World Health Organization revealed Glasgow to be the murder capital of Europe. Traditional policing had been ineffective at tackling the epidemic of violence, so the police tried something different. Their new approach was so staggeringly successful, it is now studied the world over, as Samira Shackle reported.
Elsewhere this week, as Pakistan went to the polls, there were 13 transgender candidates on the ballot, protected for the first time by a new law. The wide-ranging legislation, which allows gender self-identification on official documents, gives new hope to the country’s trans community, which has traditionally been ostracised. Memphis Barker spoke to activists in Islamabad.
Over the border in India, Amrit Dhillon spoke to the couple who have petitioned the country’s supreme court to decriminalise gay sex, a fight they are widely expected to win next week.
And with mental health problems on the rise in the UK, the Upside editor, Mark Rice-Oxley, has offered some alternative advice on how to prevent and manage mental illness.
What we liked
The first episode of the new Justice in America podcast offered a simple and fascinating breakdown of what is wrong with the US bail system and how to fix it.
What we heard
An interesting read on the comparably more inclusive policies towards trans in Pakistan, which appear in contradiction to it’s disparaging laws on women’s rights and homosexuality.
Where was the upside
In New Zealand (again), where the world’s first law granting victims of domestic violence paid leave was introduced, a step towards tackling the country’s shocking domestic violence problem. And in Sweden, where one woman’s protest prevented a man from being deported to Afghanistan, and drew global attention to the plight of asylum seekers in Europe.
