Franklin Zimring quoted in Sacramento Bee, January 6, 2013
“People who are passionate about guns see things through a single-subject lens,” said Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of “The Great American Crime Decline,” a book on nationwide crime trends.
Franklin Zimring quoted in Newsday, December 31, 2012
“Impressive,” was how a noted criminologist, Professor Franklin Zimring, labeled the latest results.
“The 2012 decline is the first push under the [low] homicide rates of 2009,” said Zimring, who teaches law at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. “It means the city hasn’t scraped bottom yet.”
Franklin Zimring writes for The Economic and Political Weekly, December 29, 2012
With the pressure to execute Ajmal Kasab now past, perhaps India can proceed with caution towards ending executions, as every democracy in Europe has already done. A formal moratorium on executions can be a tentative first step as has been used extensively by other jurisdictions in their journey towards abolition. Ironically, then, Kasab’s hanging may have removed the country’s best argument for retaining capital punishment.
Franklin Zimring quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, December 27, 2012
Franklin Zimring, a UC Berkeley law professor and criminologist, said Bratton’s hiring was a good move as long as city leaders let him weigh in broadly on the operations of the department – and agreed to listen.
“The problem in Oakland has been too many cooks spoiling the Police Department,” Zimring said. “If he’s another voice in the chorus, and they’re not all singing together, we’ve got trouble.”
Barry Krisberg and Franklin Zimring quoted in Contra Costa Times, December 24, 2012
“Richmond is doing a lot of things right, and that’s helping them buck a trend,” said Barry Krisberg, research and policy director at the Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley School of Law. “Years ago, Richmond committed itself to an evidence-based, comprehensive strategy to reduce violence, and we’re seeing the payoff.”
“You want to be cautious when pinning the tail on the causes for declines in Richmond homicides,” said UC Berkeley criminologist Franklin Zimring. “They are doing community-based policing, but they are also doing intensive policing, with a lot of cops on the streets.”
Franklin Zimring quoted in Reuters, December 21, 2012
Events that create “anxiety-producing circumstances for gun ownership” will lead to a short-term increase in sales, said Frank Zimring, a criminologist and professor at the University of California – Berkeley Law School.
Franklin Zimring quoted in The Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2012
Zimring said more study is necessary to establish a definite causal link between the city’s various juvenile justice programs and the low incarceration rate. “What we know from New York’s experience is that trying to change individual behaviors in community settings can work very well, but you still have to count your change very carefully, and rigorously evaluate particular people-changing exercises,” Zimring said.
Franklin Zimring quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, December 15, 2012
“The problem,” said UC Berkeley criminologist Franklin Zimring, “is it has a very short shelf life. There will be rhetorical aftermath. There will be an exchange of hostile views. But if the past is prologue, there aren’t going to be any changed policies.” The debates fueled by a massacre tend to last “about two weeks,” Zimring said.
Franklin Zimring quoted in KQED, December 12, 2012
U.C. Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring says it’s a good first step. But he says the city and police department need to allocate resources and demonstrate commitment to the reforms. “There’s a very big difference between complying with a consent decree and having a Director of Compliance,” Zimring said. “Having a Director of Compliance is a necessary condition, but it isn’t a sufficient condition.”
Franklin Zimring writes for San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 2012
The election-night headlines didn’t seem cheerful for those dedicated to ending capital punishment in California. Proposition 34, the audacious attempt to use ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty, was defeated. The narrowness of the final vote (52-48 percent) was some consolation, but this was in part the result of the lack of an energetic campaign by the state’s district attorneys. And isn’t it folk wisdom that close calls only count in horseshoes? Don’t the anti-death-penalty partisans belong in the ballot initiative loser’s bracket for 2012 along with the food labelers and union busters?