Saturday, March 1, 2008

Those Pesky Facts

Fewer than 2% of those booked on state and local charges at the Washington County Detention Center are illegally in the country without proper documentation, according to a recent study commissioned by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and conducted by Professor Brad Myrstol of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas.

"We see a lot of references to immigrant crime without a lot of data. The perception of immigrant crime is largely a social and media creation, even a political creation," said Dr. Myrstol. Studies show immigrant communities tend to have less crime than the general population, he told The Morning News.

Political candidates in Springdale and points north will be disappointed to hear this news, but facts are easily ignored and voters are often uninformed. Bashing immigrants is just too easy for some of the dimwitted and dishonest office seekers who are ready to advance their personal ambitions by attacking minorities and others with no political power.

No comments:

Post a Comment