The Volokh Conspiracy - Now That's An Ambitious Campaign Plank:

The New York Times reports:

"We'll start by setting a bold goal," Clinton said at a YMCA community center in the tough neighborhood of West Philadelphia. "We'll start by focusing on cities with high homicide rates and we will cut those rates in half."

The Times paraphrases the plan this way: "The centerpiece of Clinton's proposal is a goal of halving homicide rates in cities. It includes adding 100,000 new police recruits, targeting gang violence and disrupting drug markets, and a federal initiative to tackle illegal gun trafficking."

Huh -- halving homicide rates over five years, even in "cities with high homicide rates," seems a pretty challenging task, and rather beyond what can be plausibly planned for, even as a "bold goal" (much as I would love to see such a goal reached). But perhaps I'm mistaken; I'd love to hear more from people who know about such things.

	[Eugene Volokh, April 12, 2008 at 12:32am] Trackbacks Now That's An Ambitious Campaign Plank: The New York Times reports: "We'll start by setting a bold goal," Clinton said at a YMCA community center in the tough neighborhood of West Philadelphia. "We'll start by focusing on cities with high homicide rates and we will cut those rates in half." The Times paraphrases the plan this way: "The centerpiece of Clinton's proposal is a goal of halving homicide rates in cities. It includes adding 100,000 new police recruits, targeting gang violence and disrupting drug markets, and a federal initiative to tackle illegal gun trafficking." Huh -- halving homicide rates over five years, even in "cities with high homicide rates," seems a pretty challenging task, and rather beyond what can be plausibly planned for, even as a "bold goal" (much as I would love to see such a goal reached). But perhaps I'm mistaken; I'd love to hear more from people who know about such things.