One of the real purposes of universities and research institutions is to justify the narrative machine. Academic journals, white papers, and research are purported avenues to discover the truth. In many cases, this is exactly what they do. In some cases, though, they are only meant to confuse. This goes for the entire corpus of left-wing theory as well. These big books with many pages and complex peer-reviewed studies are not meant to educate. Rather, they are intended to hide intuitive reality from the rest of us.
If we pay people not to work, they will work less. If we reduce the penalties for crime, people will commit more crimes. These are intuitive truths that a child could understand. However, “experts” in the leftist-dominated universities claim to have convoluted academic reasons for why these are not true. It is all just smoke and mirrors. The reason these academic papers are so convoluted and elaborate is that it is really hard to get away from reality. But no matter how hard they try; reality always comes back.
Crime is not complicated. Sure, there is a litany of factors that may lead to an increase in crime, but one cause will always outshine all the rest. If there is no law and order, crime will skyrocket. If you put criminals in prison and enact harsh and just penalties, crime will go down. Just look at El Salvador. President Bukele demonstrated that you can simply round up all the gang members and throw them into prison. Crime rates in El Salvador are now lower than in Canada.
Left-wing academics will publish studies that make crime look complicated. But it is not. Crime is a policy choice. If policies are weak and do not enforce the law, crime will rise as sure as the sun rises.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/family/colleges/high-crime-is-a-choice/
