Race and Homicide in America, by the Numbers

“When we talk about trends, we need more than two data points,” says Scott Decker, a professor at Arizona State University and director of the school’s Center for Public Criminology. But, he adds, “Small changes are the lives of fathers and sons and daughters and mothers. And the police don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘We’ll wait until we have more data points.’ Police chiefs lose their jobs, captains get promoted or not based on getting out in front of trends.