Brenden Beck
@brendenbeck.bsky.social
Sociologist at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice studying policing, city budgets, suburbs, and housing. brenden.beck@rutgers.edu
Pinned
Brenden Beck
@brendenbeck.bsky.social
· Dec 6
Do austerity cuts spare police budgets? Welfare‐to‐carceral realignment during fiscal crises
Did governments shift funding from their social welfare functions to their criminal justice functions after the 1980s? Studies investigating this possible “punitive turn” have been inconclusive and h...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
When times are tight, do cities cut police or social service budgets more? In a 🚨new study🚨, I find revenue loss is associated with shallow, temporary cuts to policing and deep, enduring cuts to social services.
The article, in Criminology, is free, and I summarize it below.
doi.org/10.1111/1745...
The article, in Criminology, is free, and I summarize it below.
doi.org/10.1111/1745...
Any public safety benefits of increased policing are often short lived.
The drop in gun violence in DC following the Federal deployment starting in mid-August has more or less completely subsided.
November 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Any public safety benefits of increased policing are often short lived.
Tuesday’s episode of The Daily about automation at Amazon included the line: “At its core, Amazon’s reason for being isn’t as an employer, it is a customer-centric company.” Incorrect! Amazon does not exist to serve consumers *or* workers, it exists to create value for its shareholders.
November 6, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Tuesday’s episode of The Daily about automation at Amazon included the line: “At its core, Amazon’s reason for being isn’t as an employer, it is a customer-centric company.” Incorrect! Amazon does not exist to serve consumers *or* workers, it exists to create value for its shareholders.
Reposted by Brenden Beck
As the face of the “progressive prosecutor” movement steamrolls to a 3rd term, let me be the millionth person to note that when that movement loses elections it’s billed in national media as a crisis for the left, while the movement’s high points, of which there have been many, are largely ignored.
Democrat Larry Krasner, a national figurehead for reform prosecutors, has won reelection as Philadelphia’s district attorney.
November 5, 2025 at 2:42 AM
As the face of the “progressive prosecutor” movement steamrolls to a 3rd term, let me be the millionth person to note that when that movement loses elections it’s billed in national media as a crisis for the left, while the movement’s high points, of which there have been many, are largely ignored.
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
November 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
Reposted by Brenden Beck
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗
October 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Cookie Monster’s date: Can we talk about something else
October 28, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Cookie Monster’s date: Can we talk about something else
This promises to be super important research. Do prisons reduce crime or just hide it away?
New project asking whether incarceration really prevents crime via incapacitation, or just shifts it behind bars. With @aurelieouss.bsky.social @emmaharrington.bsky.social and Hannah Shaffer
How extensive is crime in prisons? Prof. @meganstevenson.bsky.social received a $610,000 grant to study the phenomenon.
October 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
This promises to be super important research. Do prisons reduce crime or just hide it away?
Reposted by Brenden Beck
I mean, we are living in two different realities now, and this really hasn't always been the case.
September 22, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I mean, we are living in two different realities now, and this really hasn't always been the case.
I'm at the public library
I'm at the apartment building
I'm at the combination public library and apartment building
I'm at the apartment building
I'm at the combination public library and apartment building
Across the US & Canada, cities are replacing aging library complexes with combined apartment + library buildings.
It's a promising way to fund new public facilities while adding housing.
A new database & details of best practices @urbaninstitute.bsky.social: www.urban.org/urban-wire/a...
It's a promising way to fund new public facilities while adding housing.
A new database & details of best practices @urbaninstitute.bsky.social: www.urban.org/urban-wire/a...
October 9, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I'm at the public library
I'm at the apartment building
I'm at the combination public library and apartment building
I'm at the apartment building
I'm at the combination public library and apartment building
Reposted by Brenden Beck
In Nov 2024, Dallas residents passed Prop U with 50.4% of the vote. It amended the city charter to direct most revenue increases to police & fire pensions, up police salaries, & expand the police force.
The consequence: 2/3 of city's budget is spent on police/fire & public libraries are closing.
The consequence: 2/3 of city's budget is spent on police/fire & public libraries are closing.
Skillman Southwestern Library bids farewell as closure looms Saturday
Skillman Southwestern Library will close permanently this Saturday after the Dallas City Council allocated most of the budget to public safety.
www.wfaa.com
September 30, 2025 at 3:54 PM
In Nov 2024, Dallas residents passed Prop U with 50.4% of the vote. It amended the city charter to direct most revenue increases to police & fire pensions, up police salaries, & expand the police force.
The consequence: 2/3 of city's budget is spent on police/fire & public libraries are closing.
The consequence: 2/3 of city's budget is spent on police/fire & public libraries are closing.
Reposted by Brenden Beck
EXCLUSIVE: The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a @reuters.com review of court dockets found.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
September 29, 2025 at 10:42 AM
EXCLUSIVE: The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a @reuters.com review of court dockets found.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Pretty awesome news for Massachusetts, and clear evidence that increasing taxes on the wealthy doesn’t simply result in them leaving.
Massachusetts has $2 BILLION more than they anticipated to spend on education and public transportation thanks to a small 4% surtax on millionaires.
We know what we have to do to make life better for regular, working Americans.
The billionaires in charge just refuse to do it.
We know what we have to do to make life better for regular, working Americans.
The billionaires in charge just refuse to do it.
August 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Pretty awesome news for Massachusetts, and clear evidence that increasing taxes on the wealthy doesn’t simply result in them leaving.
Reposted by Brenden Beck
During the 1970s, an arson wave ravaged poor communities across the US. Some lost 80% of their housing. Residents were blamed.
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
When the Bronx Burned, Tenants Died and Landlords Got Rich
www.nytimes.com
August 20, 2025 at 11:37 AM
During the 1970s, an arson wave ravaged poor communities across the US. Some lost 80% of their housing. Residents were blamed.
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
In reality, landlords—paid by insurers and enabled by the state—drove this arson-for-profit epidemic.
I reviewed @benchansfield.bsky.social's revelatory BORN IN FLAMES:
Reposted by Brenden Beck
You can through homeless people out, you can arrest them, you can send them to camps, but they’ll still exist, and still be people.
The president’s budget includes a massive cut to programs to reduce homelessness.
(Also: They couldn’t even bother to get out of their cars to take these pictures.)
The president’s budget includes a massive cut to programs to reduce homelessness.
(Also: They couldn’t even bother to get out of their cars to take these pictures.)
“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
August 10, 2025 at 6:55 PM
You can through homeless people out, you can arrest them, you can send them to camps, but they’ll still exist, and still be people.
The president’s budget includes a massive cut to programs to reduce homelessness.
(Also: They couldn’t even bother to get out of their cars to take these pictures.)
The president’s budget includes a massive cut to programs to reduce homelessness.
(Also: They couldn’t even bother to get out of their cars to take these pictures.)
Reposted by Brenden Beck
ironically the education for its own sake, Enlightenment-coded, Great Books-ass liberal arts degree is one of the better employment bets you can make. learn how to read, write, think critically, develop curiosity so you can pick up new skills quickly, etc etc
"Among college graduates ages 22 to 27, computer science and computer engineering majors are facing some of the highest unemployment rates, 6.1% and 7.5% respectively ...
That is more than double the unemployment rate among recent biology and art history graduates, which is just 3%"
That is more than double the unemployment rate among recent biology and art history graduates, which is just 3%"
Goodbye, $165,000 Tech Jobs. Student Coders Seek Work at Chipotle.
www.nytimes.com
August 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
ironically the education for its own sake, Enlightenment-coded, Great Books-ass liberal arts degree is one of the better employment bets you can make. learn how to read, write, think critically, develop curiosity so you can pick up new skills quickly, etc etc
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Imagine how amazing it would be to be a car. Hey! Wherever you need to be, anywhere in the city, just go, as fast as you can. Do you need a place to hang out for a day or two, or most nights? We’ve got millions of spots that only you can use. We love you SO much. We literally paved the way for you.
August 9, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Imagine how amazing it would be to be a car. Hey! Wherever you need to be, anywhere in the city, just go, as fast as you can. Do you need a place to hang out for a day or two, or most nights? We’ve got millions of spots that only you can use. We love you SO much. We literally paved the way for you.
Reposted by Brenden Beck
just saw bigfoot walking kinda quickly through a field; he shrugged at me and said "eh, it's a living!" No idea how he profits from this.
August 7, 2025 at 1:56 AM
just saw bigfoot walking kinda quickly through a field; he shrugged at me and said "eh, it's a living!" No idea how he profits from this.
The official 2024 crime data came out today and all categories of crime are down. If you're 55 or younger, violent crime has not been this low in your lifetime.
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...
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.
jasher.substack.com
August 5, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The official 2024 crime data came out today and all categories of crime are down. If you're 55 or younger, violent crime has not been this low in your lifetime.
Dallas, Seattle, and lots of other cities are defunding their social services to make room for larger police budgets. My latest piece for Metropolitics: metropolitics.org/Defunding-So...
Defunding Social Services
Cities around the United States are bracing for federal funding cuts to social services. Yet, as Brenden Beck explains, cities have long been cutting social-service spending while increasing police sp...
metropolitics.org
August 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Dallas, Seattle, and lots of other cities are defunding their social services to make room for larger police budgets. My latest piece for Metropolitics: metropolitics.org/Defunding-So...
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Alternate Headline:
"Even the $5 billion NYC Spends on the NYPD Couldn't Prevent the Midtown Shooting.
NYC has the highest per capita level of policing in the US. But Monday’s mass shooting showed policing's limits, security experts said."
Why not go with that headline? Why not? WHY. NOT?
"Even the $5 billion NYC Spends on the NYPD Couldn't Prevent the Midtown Shooting.
NYC has the highest per capita level of policing in the US. But Monday’s mass shooting showed policing's limits, security experts said."
Why not go with that headline? Why not? WHY. NOT?
July 30, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Alternate Headline:
"Even the $5 billion NYC Spends on the NYPD Couldn't Prevent the Midtown Shooting.
NYC has the highest per capita level of policing in the US. But Monday’s mass shooting showed policing's limits, security experts said."
Why not go with that headline? Why not? WHY. NOT?
"Even the $5 billion NYC Spends on the NYPD Couldn't Prevent the Midtown Shooting.
NYC has the highest per capita level of policing in the US. But Monday’s mass shooting showed policing's limits, security experts said."
Why not go with that headline? Why not? WHY. NOT?
Reposted by Brenden Beck
Travel Mug Regales Other Mugs With Stories From Road
July 30, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Travel Mug Regales Other Mugs With Stories From Road
The City keeps doing excellent investigative journalism. If you're interested in NYC news, it's the best source. They also have a great podcast, FAQ NYC.
An investigation by THE CITY uncovered donors who insist they didn’t donate to Eric Adams’ campaign, a donor who paid with a credit card linked to their employer and donors who don’t live where they claimed to.
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/24/e...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/24/e...
New Eric Adams ‘Donors’ Say They Never Gave to His Reelection Campaign
An investigation by THE CITY uncovered Adams donors who insist they didn't donate, a donor who paid with a credit card linked to their employer and donors who don't live where they claimed to.
www.thecity.nyc
July 24, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The City keeps doing excellent investigative journalism. If you're interested in NYC news, it's the best source. They also have a great podcast, FAQ NYC.
This sentence, in an NYT op-ed about local gov't responses to federal cuts, is wrong. Cities don't make across-the-board cuts, they cut social services more deeply than police. Source (if you'll forgive the self promotion): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
July 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
This sentence, in an NYT op-ed about local gov't responses to federal cuts, is wrong. Cities don't make across-the-board cuts, they cut social services more deeply than police. Source (if you'll forgive the self promotion): onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
American's confidence in the police dipped this year.
July 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
American's confidence in the police dipped this year.