Combating urban violence: the death of Michael Nutter's proposed "safety now - ten weeks to a safer Philadelphia"

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2008
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Urban violence has become a huge problem in the United States, and in particular in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To date, Philadelphia has the highest murder rate in the country; approximately 27.8 murders per 100,000 persons whereas the national murder rate is 5.7 per 100,000 persons. Last year alone 406 people were murdered in Philadelphia and 362 of those murders were perpetrated with a handgun. In light of these alarming statistics Philadelphia's Mayor-Elect, Michael Nutter, published a policy paper coined "Safety Now: Ten Weeks to a Safer Philadelphia," which he intended to implement his first day in office to disrupt the crime epidemic. Of paramount importance to Nutter's policy proposal was "stop and frisk," a crime-fighting tactic deemed permissible by the Supreme Court in their 1968 Terry v. Ohio ruling. The Court asserted that an officer is allowed to conduct an unwarranted search and seizure, a "stop and frisk," when the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that criminal activity is afoot. Nutter intended to enforce "stop and frisk" as a means of curbing the illegal flow of guns in Philadelphia by empowering police officers to stop, question, and frisk people they presume to be carrying illegal weapons. He intended to enforce "stop and frisk" through directed police patrols in the districts with the highest crime in the City. Nutter's policy and use of "stop and frisk" was derived from criminologist Lawrence Sherman's theory that increased gun seizures decreases gun crime. Michael Nutter publicly touted his policy and the necessity of "stop and frisk", even though its viability was criticized by a number of parties throughout the campaign. Once Michael Nutter was inaugurated discussion of his policy proposal "Safety Now," and the enforcement of "stop and frisk" dissipated from public dialogue, Michael Nutter ceased to publicly endorse "stop and frisk." Nutter appointed Charles Ramsey as the new police commissioner of Philadelphia in November 2007; however, he did not request Ramsey to derive a new crime-plan for Philadelphia until after his inauguration on January 7, 2008. He then directed the commissioner to create a new crime-plan by January 30, 2008. Nutter stipulated that Ramsey's crime-plan include insights and feedback from the community, aside from this prerequisite, Nutter placed the entire formation of the crime plan on Charles Ramsey. In light of the fact that Nutter got elected on his Safety Now crime platform, why did he abandon the entirety of his policy proposal and more importantly "stop and frisk," a legalized crime fighting tactic, when he was inaugurated? This paper is dedicated to discerning and answering this question; it evaluates a plethora of reasons for why the policy shift occurred by comparing and contrasting Nutter's original policy to Ramsey's new policy. Moreover, the paper examines similar implementation problems and constraints with Ramsey's new crime proposal.
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