Ames Grawert

Myths and Facts About Crime and Justice Reform Evidenced-based solutions are essential for creating fair and effective criminal justice policy.

For more on what we do and don't know about recent crime trends, read our collection of research by my colleagues and me on everything from immigration to retail theft. www.brennancenter.org/series/myths...

Crime-Prevention Efforts Face Setbacks After Federal Cuts The Justice Department’s withdrawal of funding for long-standing public safety programs and partnerships is an alarming reversal.

The declines come amid sizable investments in recent years in violence prevention work, which has long had bipartisan support. Unfortunately, those programs are now being cut -- endangering recent progress. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

FBI Data Confirms Drop in Most Crimes in 2023, Especially Murders Attempts to cast doubt on the reliability of the numbers don’t hold up.

These declines extend a multi-year downtrend in violence that began shortly after 2020. Importantly, larceny and motor vehicle theft also fell, with larceny rates also reaching historic lows. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Murder Officially Plunged in 2024 That and more takeaways from the FBI's 2024 Reported Crime in the Nation report.

Today the FBI released year-end crime data on 2024, showing a record-breaking decline in murder rates alongside decreases in all seven major offenses. Murder rates are now below 2019 levels, reversing the 2020 spike.

(See analysis by @jeffasher.bsky.social.)

jasher.substack.com/p/murder-off...

Murder Officially Plunged in 2024 That and more takeaways from the FBI's 2024 Reported Crime in the Nation report.

New data from the FBI: Murder fell 15% in 2024, the fastest drop ever recorded & violent/property crime rates fell to levels not seen since the 1960s. Murder returned to pre-COVID levels in 2024 & is may be the lowest level ever recorded in 2025.

jasher.substack.com/p/murder-off...

And longer to update their "last updated" note!

It's out for me - do you see it in Documents & Downloads on your end?

Still waiting for the actual data to come out, but the FBI reported that murder fell by 14.9% in 2024 while violent crime and property crime fell by 4.5% and 8.1% respectively. More shortly.

For years em-dashes have been an appellate lawyer/legal academic shibboleth so it's very disorienting to see them become an AI "tell"

Did you feel the North Jersey/Manhattan earthquake? Fill out the USGS “Did you feel it?” form and participate directly in SCIENCE - help them learn more about earthquakes! 🧪

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

It’s a real sub-way now

Trump Defunds Effective Crime-Prevention Policies Misguided budget cuts could reverse encouraging crime trends.

Crime is down — so why cut federal programs that have contributed to the decline? bit.ly/3Upeuen

Easily the best dad joke I've seen in ages:

Annotated Guide to the Amicus Briefs in the New York v. Trump Funding Freeze Case The Brennan Center and others filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of states challenging the Trump administration’s indefinite pause on billions of dollars in federal financial assistance.

And for a recap of all the briefs opposing the Trump administration's funding freeze, see @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social's full guide here: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

How a Presidential Power Grab Disrupted Federally Funded Child Care As the Trump administration’s attempt to pause trillions of dollars in federal grants is being challenged in the courts, providers and families are left hanging.

How have you seen cuts to sciences impact your work or community? We'd love to hear. For more as this case develops, follow me, @tomtmwolf.bsky.social, @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social, and the @brennancenter.org. And learn more about the case here: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

The loss of continued, stable support for American sciences would further be devastating to our global economic competitiveness. The innovation and dynamism of American businesses rely on government-supported foundational research to create cutting-edge technologies like the ones identified above. But businesses do not fund a sufficient base of fundamental research on their own due to the scale, uncertain returns, and extended timelines involved. 38 Instead, multipronged, system-level government efforts that involve dedicated research funding are necessary to tackle the most pressing problems our nation faces, such as maintaining economic competitiveness and national security during tremendous

geopolitical change, and improving the health of Americans. 39 Neither philanthropy nor the private sector is likely to take up that mantle. 40 Even if entities in the private sector were financially capable of shouldering the cost of foundational scientific research, they lack the broad expertise in public missions, coordinated vision, and economies of scale to realize it on their own. Any response that federal money preempts private investment—so as to fill the gap left following a government retreat from the sector—is incorrect. Such an argument misunderstands the complementarity between private and public investment that makes American science and innovation work. In fact, federal funding for scientific research expands the opportunity for private sector investment41 because innovative American technologies and companies build on

Some claim that the private sector can replace government funding for science. That's flatly wrong — as Dr. Prabhakar explains from her experience on both sides of the relationship.

The OMB Directive and funding freezes have already had, and will continue to have, a devastating effect on the efforts of the agencies that administer Congressional funding and the researchers who leverage that funding to support the nation’s health, security, and economy. Americans will feel the effects of these harms for years to come: the OMB Directive and freezes have created lasting damage to America’s status as a leader in scientific innovation, resulting in a weakened pipeline of scientists and engineers that will deprive Americans of future scientific advancements. They ignore the benefits of stable, long-term research funding and threaten to deprive the nation of future fruits of today’s pursuits. Additional efforts to cut billions of dollars in congressionally authorized scientific research funding will only further amplify the harms imposed by the OMB Directive and subsequent freezes.

A former Cabinet official and venture capitalist, Dr. Prabhakar walks through the funding freeze's immediate impact on American scientific leadership and business, situating them in the context of the administration's "broader cuts to investment in scientific research"

And the stakes are high: "For more than 80 years, American scientific research has flourished and served the nation thanks to federal funding and the stability and predictability created by the rule of law. The Court should do everything in its power to protect that vital relationship."

Federal funding cuts and budgetary "freezes" have hit science and technology especially hard — and we could be grappling with the consequences for decades. The annotated guide below includes one brief by Dr. Arati Prabhakar laying out the stakes. Short thread: www.brennancenter.org/media/14193/...

Great work @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social!

Annotated Guide to the Amicus Briefs in the New York v. Trump Funding Freeze Case The Brennan Center and others filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of states challenging the Trump administration’s indefinite pause on billions of dollars in federal financial assistance.

My colleague @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social read all the amicus briefs opposing the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze so you don’t have to: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res... @brennancenter.org

How a Presidential Power Grab Disrupted Federally Funded Child Care As the Trump administration’s attempt to pause trillions of dollars in federal grants is being challenged in the courts, providers and families are left hanging.

The executive branch's attempted freeze of trillions of federal dollars was a clear overreach, since Congress alone holds the authority to determine how federal dollars are spent and for whom. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

A former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Arati Prabhakar:

www.brennancenter.org/media/14193/...

Late yesterday, a strong slate of amicus briefs was filed in support of the New York AG's challenge to the Trump Administration's across-the-board freeze of federal funding. Former federal agency officials, scholars, and lawmakers among them! Here are some of the highlights... 🧵⬇️ @brennancenter.org

a chef with a pink bow tie and a chef 's hat stands in a kitchen ALT: a chef with a pink bow tie and a chef 's hat stands in a kitchen

Watch this space next week...