David Harris interviewed on MSNBC, Dec. 29, 2006, on the topic of rising crime rates.

UT College of Law Professor David Harris was interviewed on MSNBC on Dec. 29 concerning the nationwide spike in violent crime, especially murder, in most cities across the nation.

Statistics issued by the FBI in late December showed that many American cities, large and small, experienced increases in the homicide rate in the latest statistical survey. Harris told MSNBC that this rise in murders probably had several causes, including demographics (an increase in the number of men entering the crime-prone years between the ages of 18 and 35). He also cautioned against characterizing a one-year change as a trend, since it came after approximately ten years of falling crime rates.

Following the interview, Harris summarized the comments he made on MSNBC. "Cities and their crime problems are very individual,” he said. “Context is everything, so what is causing this in one city may have nothing to do with what is causing it in others.”

“The important thing now is to devote careful study to tracking violent crime and murder in each city where they are rising and see what lies behind the problem,” he continued. “Is it hard-core gang members? Turf wars over street-corner drug sales? We can't make any assumptions. Only when we understand the problems locally can we devise a good strategy to fight back."

Harris’ comments on this topic have also recently appeared in the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor, as well as featured on the nationally syndicated Ed Schultz radio show. Harris is the Balk Professor of Law and Values at UT Law and is the author of two books, Good Cops: The Case for Preventive Policing (New Press 2005) and Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work (New Press 2002).

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