D-Cubed Does Crime, Its Causes and Cures

Sure to be a major issue in this year’s state and national elections, crime seems to be impinging more and more on our personal lives. Have you had any recent experiences as a victim of crime? How have your feelings about crime evolved during the recent past? We’ll talk about all kinds of crimes, with a special focus on violent crime. Our discussion will review many possible causes of the recent increase in violent crime, as well as the challenges of determining the causes of this aberrant human behavior. After considering the politics of crime, we will conclude by evaluating policy alternatives aimed at reducing crime.

Because of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that this event will be held indoors, we ask that all participants be fully vaccinated. In addition, the library requires all people in the facility to be masked. If you can’t satisfy our vaccination requirement, please consider joining us for the online D-Squared event that will address the same topic. It will be held at 7 PM on Tuesday, 5/10.

D-Cubed (Discussion, Debate, and Dinner) is a monthly gathering sponsored by HumanistsMN and hosted by Jerry Smith and Mark Thoson. Jerry will be moderating this month’s discussion.

As usual, we are assigning “homework” in the belief that preparation will help participants contribute to a thoughtful, informed discussion. Please try to read some or all of the following before the event:

Increase in Violent Crime:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-dont-know-why-violent-crime-is-up-but-we-know-theres-more-than-one-cause/2021/07/09/467dd25c-df9a-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html
https://www.vox.com/22578430/murder-crime-2020-2021-covid-19-pandemic

Causes of Crime:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-trouble-with-crime-statistics
https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and
https://www.city-journal.org/james-q-wilson-criminal-justice

Politics of Crime:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/13/brooklyn-subway-shooting-shows-flawed-politics-crime-gun-laws/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions_pm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_popns&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3692825%2F6257251064253a7f342f3a72%2F596d4a689bbc0f067a71f881%2F8%2F57%2F6257251064253a7f342f3a72

What Should Be Done?
https://time.com/6138650/violent-crime-us-surging-what-to-do/

Assuredly there are many more articles and videos of relevance to our topic. So if you are aware of other online resources that would enlighten us, feel free to suggest them by posting links in the “Comments” section below.

At 4:30 PM or shortly thereafter, we will wrap up our discussion. Those who wish to continue conversing on these and other topics are welcome to join Jerry and Mark for dinner at Pad Thai, a moderately priced Thai restaurant located at 1681 Grand Avenue in St. Paul, a short drive from the library. We’ll provide directions to the restaurant and have tables reserved for our group.

This event is sponsored by HumanistsMN. If you are not yet a member, please consider joining to help us cover our costs and build the humanist movement. Not ready to join? Donations are gratefully accepted! Donate or join at [https://humanistsmn.org/.](https://humanistsmn.org/)

To register or comment on this event, view listing on Meetup.com.