Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Action, Reaction

One of the reasons I keep waiting for modelers of complex adaptive systems to turn their eyes profitably toward the crim just system is because so much of what we do really is action, reaction as offenders and authorities learn from each other and adopt new methods that each then adapts to. Drug policy, crime displacement, and now guns to knives. As we whap people hard for having and/or using guns in crimes, they are now turning to knives, which our policymakers have overlooked when writing up mandatories. And while we may think knives are easier to defend against or make less damaging wounds, I can’t help thinking, “You call that a knife? That’s not a knife. THIS is a knife.”

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