After averting its eyes in the Jerry Sandusky and Michael Mann cases, Penn State might not be the best place to look for vindication.
The Penn State Justice Center for Research reports:
Comparing the pre-Marcellus breakout period (2006-2007) to post-Marcellus breakout period (2008-2010), there were no consistent increases in Pennsylvania State Police incidents/calls for service or Uniform Crime Report (UCR) arrest statistics in the top Marcellus- active counties. However, the trend in PSP incidents/calls for service in the rural counties that have had no Marcellus activity is dissimilar to that of the Marcellus-active counties; specifically, PSP calls for service have been steadily declining in non-Marcellus areas during the post- Marcellus breakout period, but there has been a more variable pattern of both PSP calls and UCR reported arrests in the Marcellus areas. It is imperative to note that it is difficult to detect strong trends within such a short time period, and any observed changes may be due to natural variation. More time will need to elapse in the post-Marcellus era in order to measure the impact on PSP activity or UCR arrest data. Moreover, this study would be enhanced by exploring additional measures of crime and by more specific comparisons to non Marcellus Shale regions.
Umm… this report does not say what you say it does. It indicates (sort of, and very tentatively) that crime remained level in counties with fracking and declined everywhere else. The data, as the authors said, is probably not good enough to draw conclusions, but if one were to draw a conclusion the proper one would be that fracking prevented those counties from participating in a general decline in the crime rate.
Mr. Malloy,
Please don’t make adverse references to Mr. Sandusky. I followed the day-care cases of a couple of decades ago. The presence of suggestion to children and local hysteria were awesome. There is general agreement that gross injustices were done. One young woman had her baby taken from her and was given a life sentence. It was horrible.
The Sandusky case suffers from testimony about events nearly a decade ago, during which time memory will bend to put a witness in a favorable way, especially if a big payday is in the offing. The football player who did not go to the aid of a child (legally, he did not have to) that was raped before his eyes. ETC!
As you correctly point out, people believe that DDT is a menace despite your 100 reasons that thoroughly debunk that notion. People latch on to certain naratives without any real evidence. The Sandusky matter is a case of prosecutor overreach. Janet Reno used a crazy prosecution to become Attorney General. When confronted with the video tapes that showed gross suggestion with anatomically correct dolls, she said that she could care less.
There is no mention of population of the counties. Usually these type of statistics are compared by looking at incidences per 100,000. Maybe if they count tree rings, they can find the incline.
Some people will grasp at anything to stop fracing. Here is the theory: http://theithacan.org/18037
Basically, its those awful, high paid, work hard, play hard blue collar workers causing all the problems /sarc
There may be some truth to that, but the questions I would ask are: How much of the increase is due to Occupiers, ELFs and Watermelens? Also, would the situation be any different with any other booming industry?
I was astounded by the research paper. There was no apparent reason for conducting such a study. I was looking for something like, ‘gases released in the process of fracking make people violently insane’ (or too lethargic to engage in criminal activity), but no hypothesis was offered.
The final sentence, though, was completely illuminating: “With additional support, we would be able to address the limitations noted above and produce a more comprehensive examination of crime trends in the Marcellus Shale region.”
Once again, just pandering for research money. However, this is truly the worst I have ever seen.