• defunct_punk@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    US too, crime has been dropping for decades but we apparently need a Gestapo force to go after criminal gangs

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      The curious thing about US crime statistics is that we only count crimes against the state. We never count crimes committed by the state.

      I would argue that US Crime has been sharply on the rise, from within the organs of the government itself (and its corporate affiliates).

      • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 hour ago

        The definition of “crime” is pretty much controlled by a small number of people: It ain’t a crime if there’s no law against it.

        Always remember that the mass murder of Jews and Roma in NAZI Germany wasn’t a crime because it was all legal. Similarly, Slavery wasn’t a crime in most of the World, and even today in many countries, such as the US some forms of it (for example using prisioners as forced labour) aren’t a crime.

        We’ve been indoctrinated into in everyday speech conflate Legality with Morality (as its very useful for those who control lawmaking for the riff-raff to unthinkingly shun those deemed law-breakers and side with law-enforcers), so IMHO it’s a good idea to, once in a while, remind oneself that Laws are made by Humans, not Gods, and the reasons for Humans to make Laws as they are, are messy and the results themselves are often bad and easy to selectivelly interpret and abuse.

      • defunct_punk@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        True but I didn’t want to get into the nitty gritty and just comment on the conservative “crime in the streets!!” fantasy

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Rightwingers keep trying to make Cali look like a crime ridden cesspool and Texas the peak of law and order, but crime statics between the two are marginal. They tend to shutdown whenever I cite sources on that.