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Wow. This piece is so powerful. @whilke1 describes how Jens Ludwig’s (& by extension @uchicago Crime Lab’s) work both influences and is influenced by Chicago politics, even though Ludwig “insists that his work is not political.”
[thread]
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1242&context=jlasc
[thread]
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1242&context=jlasc
This matters bc “when political actions are hidden, it becomes more difficult to engage them and expose [their] ideological underpinnings" -- but Hilke works to do just that. 'More difficult' doesn't mean 'impossible'!
Importantly, Hilke points out that “Ludwig only discusses the potential benefits, & renders invisible the negative impact of incarceration on the (mostly black) communities where its use is most prevalent… Ludwig’s narrowing of scope prevents certain questions from being raised”
“In claiming that his only role is to present the best evidence, Ludwig conceals the enormous human infrastructure—the beliefs, commitments, and experiences—that frame his reasoning. By denying his own subjectivity, Ludwig obscures a consideration...
...that belongs in our discussion of public policy: that the commitments and beliefs of those who are allowed to debate policy determine, in large part, the policy we get.”
[YES! I can't wait to discuss this with my Public Policy students]
[YES! I can't wait to discuss this with my Public Policy students]
“If the focus on 1 man’s research seems strange, consider that Ludwig’s work lived on in Chicago..His validation of the punishment paradigm of crime reduction reverberates in the language & ideas Chicago political leaders used to support sentence enhancements for years to follow”
“Punishment-based narratives are politically useful... Ludwig’s memorandum and his public support of sentence enhancements strengthened these punishment-based narratives.”
It's a long read, and well worth it. I'm curious to hear thoughts from @haroldpollack and others!
It's a long read, and well worth it. I'm curious to hear thoughts from @haroldpollack and others!
