[lbo-talk] Comment on F-9/11 and racism

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

NP Childs:
> That's a gross simplification, societal attitudes and mores play a
role in these things as well;
> the rate of reported spousal abuse has increased significantly in the
last 20 years, does that
> mean there's more of it or hat it's just being reported more? Crimes
like sexual assault are
> subject to the same thing; the amount of crime being reported is
directly proportional to
> having recognized 'authority figures' who validate that a crime
occurred and a society

That is why crime stats do not depend exclusively on police reports but
use victimization surveys, such as NCVS
(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvictgen.htm).  

Claiming that crime is but social construction and a figment of
imagination  is a fantasy of armchair academics and demagogues.  It is
one thing to denounce crime fear mongering by politicians - but that
does not have be going into the other extreme.

Wojtek