Hello and welcome to the political wharfonage, a home for plucky misfits and friendly crime fighters. I'm your host Andrew Heaton.

Hey, you know crime? That thing? I'm not a fan, which is a problem because it seems to have caught a

second wind over the last few years, at least anecdotally. In terms of just people I know, I keep hearing about the country becoming

less safe, more violent and increases in things like shoplifting and burglaries. But that's

anecdotal.

I don't actually know is crime on the rise

or are we just talking about it more?

Which is exactly why I am bringing on a criminologist today, a criminologist, and an economist, to walk us through

trends in crime not just since the pandemic, but since the 90s. How do we stack up now compared to 2020 and how does

2020 stack up compared to 1990? But wait, it gets even better. We're not just going to learn about present crime rates. We're also

going to dive into the causes and deterrence of crime. What makes crime increase in a country and what policies are effective at suppressing it?

And best, because my guest is by training an economist.

We are going to ask her, what are we presently wasting money on in terms of

stopping crime? What is not a good use of taxpayer money and what would be a cheaper use of taxpayer money instead,

what would be good bang for our buck in terms of keeping us safe.

That's right, I alone have dared to take the topics of murder, assault, and gang warfare

and asked, can I make this more interesting by applying math? I think I can. You be the judge.

Enjoy.

I am joined today by Jennifer Doleac. She is the Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold

Ventures, which is a juggernaut of criminal justice reform in the United States, one of the largest

organizations working on that regularly. Jen and I became friends a couple of years

ago and then she promptly broke my heart by moving to Houston Texas to take on her role there after a prominent stint in academia.

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