John Roman

Director, Center on Public Safety and Justice, NORC at the Univ. of Chicago| Team: @CaterinaGRoman @NPSCoalition| Essays:

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

For interested folks, the article is here: https://t.co/23ebmfl4G1

[John Arnold @johnarnold]

An underreported trend.
via @JohnKRoman

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

Not enforcing traffic laws is terrible policy, makes the public less safe and reduces government legitimacy. But it is important to also note these are not crimes per se, and the widespread massive reduction in violence and property crime is real.

[M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray]

This insistence that crime and disorder aren't really issues in American cities, when in fact many cities just basically decided to stop doing law enforcement post-2020, just feels very Orwellian and tone deaf.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

@KeithNHumphreys <quickly checks pinned tweet>

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

@KeithNHumphreys This is the only true thing ever said on the internets

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

Important life lesson: one watermelon contains way too much watermelon.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

@Noahpinion Sorry but the timeline doesn’t work. A cause has to come before the effect. Violence collapsed in 2024 before the migration changes.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

@johnarnold The regionalization of non revenue sports may be the most important item on that list.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

I would just add to this great list, if you sit very quietly while driving a car full of teens they will forget you are there and you will learn all the things.

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

In doing 100% of the family chaffeuring, I learned (1) Adolescent males will disclose personal things while looking straight ahead next to you that they will not face to face (2) Shuttling kids lets you see them interact with their friends and you get to know them better too (3) Singing along with the radio with your kids in a car is a lot of fun (4) As they grow up, kids realize you are doing them a favor by chaffeuring them and that is one of the ways they know that you love them.
YMMV (literally) but if I had replaced myself with a robot chaffeur, it would have cost our family a lot more than money.
https://t.co/woZbnjZBFo

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

On Tanking in the NBA. What we want: bad teams to get early picks. Good teams to get late picks. No one to lose on purpose. The fix: Fewest wins over the last three years gets the first pick. Etc.

And... that's it.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

<squints>

Why does WaPo report "Republicans", "Independents" and "Democrat"?

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

The post is here: https://t.co/x85VUXRwED

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

Gun homicide has fallen well below its pre-pandemic level. But firearm suicides are up year after year.

That split tells us something important: the relationship between gun availability and violence is not simple. Gun sales may help explain the suicide trend more clearly than the homicide trend.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

No tears for Spirit, garbage in, garbage out. https://t.co/UBDZQQH7uH via @NYTimes

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

I totally agree with Keith here. Our policy debates have become one sided cost benefit analyses where we cite the costs but not the benefits, or vice versa. Makes for a terrific debate on twitter but terrible policy making.

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

None of the critiques here of @germanrlopez's recent NYT essay even mentions the well-being of San Franciscans who don't use drugs: the kids who walk to school through open-air drug scenes, the spouses who are abandoned, the shop workers going bankrupt from shoplifting. The dismissal of the harm done to people who don't use drugs is a key reason why the perspectives here have been rejected by policymakers and the public. In public health, *everyone* should matter, not just people who use drugs but everyone else too.
https://t.co/QJ05bxiPux

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

None of the critiques here of @germanrlopez's recent NYT essay even mentions the well-being of San Franciscans who don't use drugs: the kids who walk to school through open-air drug scenes, the spouses who are abandoned, the shop workers going bankrupt from shoplifting. The dismissal of the harm done to people who don't use drugs is a key reason why the perspectives here have been rejected by policymakers and the public. In public health, *everyone* should matter, not just people who use drugs but everyone else too.
https://t.co/QJ05bxiPux

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

@johnarnold That last point is huge and gets no attention. In PA suburbs, big warm universities are in high demand…

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

I’m the only one on here who hasn’t tried to fix tanking in the NBA. So here’s the fix: for non-playoff teams you pick in reverse order of the last three years combined record. And… that’s it.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

So I get it's the MLB. But this is a rare throw, and the first base coach is just standing there. Does the runner even know this throw is coming and he should hoof it? I mean obviously he knows to get back, but he's not urgent and the 1B coach is checking his phone...

[Baseball King @BasebaIlKing]

This throw was absolutely absurd.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

The red line shows homicides between 2018 and 2025. The blue line, the number of local government employees. They are mirror images. The blue line trends up as a result of ARPA, a $350B investment to stabilize local government after the pandemic. The red line trend down as more than one million teachers, counselors, and clinicians enter the local labor force.

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

https://t.co/plLth5vlwi

[John Roman @JohnKRoman]

For about a decade before Michael Browns death, justified police shootings steadily increased.