Response 2: Sheriff Morgan's "Super Predator" Thesis Debunked Again

Introduction

The concept of the "Super Predator" rests upon the assumption that the rate of illegitimate births would increase.  Young males, but especially young Black males, would grow up fatherless.  Lacking a high school education, they would consequently have no moral compass and no internal mechanism to control their urges to rape, steal, beat, and murder.  These ideas were covered in a previous Street Report article and the Retro Report documentary on the Super Predator.

This Street Report demolishes the basic assumptions of the "Super Predator" thesis by showing that contrary to Sheriff Morgan's assertions, the birth rate for Black teenage girls has declined; the birth rate for Black unwed mothers has not changed in two decades; and, the proportion of people 25-years of age or older without a high school education has steadily declined over two decades in Escambia County.

In other words, Sheriff Morgan's thesis that the "Super Predator" is a valid law enforcement model is shown to be an empty assertion.  Data specific to Escambia County and Florida fail to provide support.  It is an urban myth promoted by a Sheriff who is hopelessly and grossly misinformed.

Unfortunately for the resident of Escambia County--but especially the young Black males who are the intended target of the Sheriff's "Super Predator" thesis--they will suffer the consequences of this misguided, bewildered Sheriff's policies.

Sheriff Morgan Makes His Case for the "Super Predator"

In the video clip taken from the same August 29, 2013, Internet broadcast Sheriff Morgan makes the following two claims: (1) the illegitimacy rate in the Black community is 73 percent and the rates for the white and Hispanic communities are "not far behind;" and (2) that we are allowing illegitimacy "to be the norm."  The Sheriff also told the story of an Escambia County Sheriff's Office contractor who found that among Black male inmates at the Escambia County Jail that in excess of 70 percent lacked a high school education and a father in the family.

Regarding the latter point, the way he described the study suggests that the contractor sampled on the dependent variable.  This is a fallacy in social science research.  The men were already jail, which the dependent variable.  The contractor then determined the statistics for dropping out of high school and not having a father at home.  The proper methodology would be to take a representative random sample of the community and test whether these variables were correlated with having been sent to the Escambia County Jail.  Thus, we will disregard this assertion.

NOTE:  This video runs in the original video from 11:22 to about 12:39.

The Statistical Mirage of the Rise of Black Teenage Births

When Sheriff Morgan mentioned that the illegitimacy rate in the Black community was 73 percent, the figure sounds alarming.  But, that figures masks very positive developments in the Black community.

Tim Wise, probably the leading anti-racist activist in the United States, explained this development in a December 2014 article.  First, he explained that Black women were demeaned by the dominant culture for producing Black males that the dominant culture considered to be physical threats and criminals.  Both Black men and women had been criminalized by law enforcement and suffered deaths at its hands.  Second, Black women were "pathologized and demeaned" for "their unique contribution to the production of such men (and more women such as themselves) as breeders of illegitimate children--literal incubators of social decay."

In essence, Wise is describing what Sheriff Morgan posited as integral to his "Super Predator" thesis.

Wise noted that associated with this pathological characterization of Black women was the "commonly held belief that out-of-wedlock births were out of control in the black community" and the "phenomenon of teenage childbearing."

Wise explained that two positive trends resulted in the perception of a rise of out-of-wedlock births.

First, the birth rates (live births per 1000 such women) for unmarried Black women fell by one-third between 1970 and 2010--the very era that was supposed to produce the "Super Predator."  They declined from 95.5 live births per 1000 unmarried Black women to 65.3 live births per such woman.

Second, the birth rates for married Black women fell even more dramatically.

Third, this produced the statistical mirage that that the "share of children born in the black community who are born out of wedlock has indeed doubled since the 1970s."  It is a mirage because the only thing that changed was the proportion of out of wedlock births relative to the birth rate for married Black women.  Remember, both birth rates fell, it is just that the birth rate for married Black women fell more.

Fourth, Wise pointed out that the largest drop in the birth rate occurred among Black teenagers, which declined 63 percent between 1991 and 2013.  Among Black teenagers, in any given year only four percent will give birth, double the rate for white girls.

But, Wise pointed out, given these trends in Black teenage birth rates "hardly constitutes some kind of cultural or group norm."

Thus, national data completely undermine Sheriff Morgan's central claim.

The coup d'grace comes from data collected and collated by the Florida Department of Health.  All charts and data points come from their website floridacharts.com.  I have produced the graphs to demonstrate the falsity of Sheriff Morgan's claims in Escambia County.

The Decline of Teenage Birth Rates in Escambia County

The chart below looks at the birth rate for white and Black girls, aged 13 to 19 years of age, from 1992-1994 through 2011-2013, with three-year rolling averages to smooth the data.

The birth rate for teenage Black girls in Escambia County (green line) declined from 100 at the start of the period to 40 at the endpoint--a 60 percent drop.  This trend mirrored the decline in birth rates for Black teenagers in Florida (gold line) which declined from just over 80 live births per 1000 such girls to about 30 live births.  The figures for white girls in Escambia County and Florida (red and blue lines, respectively) show a 50 percent decline--from around 40 live births per 1000 such women to around 20 live births per 1000 such women.

In other words, the data show that contrary to Sheriff Morgan's statement that teenage births are the norm in the Black and white communities in Escambia County, birth rates for teenagers showed a steady, consistent decline over two decades.  It shows that Black and white girls are acting more responsibly.

Source: Florida Department of Health

Even when we examine the birth rate for unwed mothers between 13 and 19 years of age for white and Black females, the data show no rise in the birth rate.  To be sure, the Black unwed birth rate does not fall, but the white unwed birth rate rises to nearly match it.  Again, there does not appear to be any (growing) cultural norm of illegitimacy in the Black community.

Since the Black unwed birthrate appears impervious to change over two decades, there does not appear to be any cultural driver internal to the Black community capable of moving this birth rate upward.

On the other hand, the white unwed birth rate for Escambia County and Florida show a roughly 30 percent increase over the same time period; the "problem" of increasing teenage unwed births appears to be a problem unique to the white community state-wide.

Source: Florida Department of Health

Furthermore, Sheriff Morgan had argued that these (non-existent) trends were condemning these children to a "life of poverty" due primarily to a lack of a high school education.

Once again, the data for Escambia County and Florida contradict the Sheriff's assertion.

The chart below shows that in Escambia County the proportion of individuals 25 years of age or older (the only dataset available) without a high school diploma has been steadily declining over the past two decades.

Source: Florida Department of Health

Concluding Observation

The three so-called drivers of Sheriff Morgan's "Super Predator" thesis--a rise in the Black teenage birth rate, a rise in Black unwed teenage mothers' birth rate, and a rise in the number of people without a high school diploma--show results completely opposite of what Sheriff Morgan so confidently put forth to the media and organizations around town.

Sheriff Morgan's "Super Predator" thesis is not supported by data provided by the Florida Department of Health.

If the Sheriff persists in taking his pathetic dog-and-pony show to the media and organizations in the county, someone needs to call him out.

Just as the national "Super Predator" thesis was debunked by data in the mid-1990s, so too, Sheriff Morgan's "Super Predator" thesis has been debunked by data.  If he persists in promoting this debunked, urban legend that was based on racist speculation in its early formulation--he will have proven himself to be an ideologue and a fanatic.

In a future article, I will examine efforts by scholars, business groups, and consultants to figure out how improve the economy of northwest Florida and southern Alabama.

New York Times//Retro Report: The Myth of the Super Predator

The disingenuous and pedantic Escambia County Sheriff Thelbert 'David' Morgan stands by his thesis that there is something called a "Super Predator," according to evening newscasts in Pensacola.

As I thoroughly discussed in a previous Street Report article, the concept has no scientific basis; no evidence to support it; an urban legend; and, is essentially racist speculation.

The New York Times//Retro Report examines the history of the concept, its pernicious effects on youths in America--increased incarceration and more severe penalties for juveniles--and its debunking by criminologists using what the Sheriff claims he prefers--data.

The scientific debunking of the mid-1990s concept of the "Super Predator" is so thorough that only the blindly ideological could continue to believe a myth having no basis in reality.

The Sheriff's staunch ideological stance--accompanied by his camera-ready glare for the stenographic television journalists and carefully coiffed hair--that he is correct is just empty bluster; posturing for his base who will believe any claim from a self-declared expert; a pretentious dandy, an allegedly data-driven Sheriff sounding tough because the only thing left to his claim of the validity of the "Super Predator" is the sound of his own voice.

The New York Times//Retro Report is located HERE.

Sheriff Morgan: The Burning of Mr. Keshwon Stallworth's Body Is 'Funny'

Ms. Sheard told me that it was "not funny about his body burning.  They are taking the last vision from me.  There is nothing funny about that all.  It is just shocking what the Sheriff said.  Really shocking.  It makes me feel that they are not really going to investigate his murder; that they really don't care about Keshwon and all the other young Black men who have been senselessly killed."  (April 10, 2015)

"I know somebody knows.  Too many people are talking about it.  Somebody knows who did this.  I just want somebody to say something so I can lay my little brother down."  Keshwon Stallworth's brother, Xavier McShan, to WEAR television report Rob L. Brown, March 13, 2015.

Background to the Killing of Keshwon Stallworth

The late Mr. Keshwon Stallworth, son of Ms. Sheranda Sheard, was brutally murdered in the "early hours" of March 6, 2015.  According to a WEAR written report based on a live report from the family's "candlelight vigil" at a "makeshift memorial," Mr. Stallworth had been "shot and burned beyond recognition."  His killer(s) are not known and there are no suspects.  HERE

According to the same WEAR report, the "Escambia County Sheriff's Office said the killing may be gang related, though they did not say if or how Keshwon may have been involved in the gang."

This statement is typical of the ECSO.  While even the accused are presumed to be innocent, the ECSO considers virtually every homicide of a young Black male to be gang related--leaving the impression that the victim was a member of a criminal gang rather than innocent victim.

Sheriff Morgan thought the burning of Keshwon Stallworth's body was "funny."

Mr. Outzen's written presentation of what Sheriff Morgan said on the radio show reads:  "This young man was involved in criminal activity, drugs.  There was some marijuana measuring devices and scales in the car that were not incinerated.  Here a young man, again, engaged in a very high-risk behavior and paid the price for that.  As you well know, the drug trade is a very violent trade."  HERE

But, that is not really an accurate representation of what Sheriff Morgan actually said.

Starting at the 3:45 mark and ending at the 4:25 mark here is what Sheriff Morgan actually stated (my own transcript with emphasis added):

"This young man [Mr. Keshwon Stallworth] was, I will release this, he was involved in criminal activity, drugs.  There was some marijuana measuring devices and scales in the car that were not incinerated.  It's funny when you have a fire, what burns and what does not burn.  I mean it was obvious that it was in the vehicle, it had been damaged obviously by the heat of the fire.  But there were weights and measures for the distribution of marijuana.  Of course, we want to interview some other folks who were around there.  And so, here a young man was engaged in very high risk behavior and he paid the price for that.  As you well know, the drug trade is a violent trade."

Not only was Mr. Stallworth's body burnt "beyond recognition" "funny," according to the Sheriff, but Sheriff Morgan opened the show with "demonizing" language characterizing Mr. Mr. Stallworth and all young Black males in Escambia County as "Super Predators" (see the accompanying CJ's Street Report).

Ms. Sheard told me that it was "not funny about his body burning.  They are taking the last vision from me.  There is nothing funny about that all.  It is just shocking what the Sheriff said.  Really shocking.  It makes me feel that they are not really going to investigate his murder; that they really don't care about Keshwon and all the other young Black men who have been senselessly killed."

When told that Sheriff Morgan had described her son Keshwon as a "Super Predator," her immediate reaction was, "bullshit."  She said, "Keshwon was not a super predator."  She added, "They don't know Keshwon.  Just because he went to an alternative school for kids with disciplinary problems, they can't judge Keshwon."

A "Super Predator," as explained in the accompanying article is an "urban legend" based upon "junk science" having "no evidence" and amounting to nothing more than "racist speculation."

The only evidence that Mr. Stallworth may have been associated with marijuana is the measuring devices in the car.  But, the Sheriff did not state where the scales had been found in relationship to his body.  The Sheriff presented no evidence that Mr. Stallworth had ever owned or used those particular measuring devices in question.  Maybe someone else had put them in the car.  And, the Sheriff presented no evidence that the measuring devices had anything to do with Mr. Keshwon's murder.  There is simply a correlation that measuring devices, that may or may not have been used to measure marijuana, were in the same car as Mr. Stallworth.

This Street Report compares who Keshwon Stallworth was, according to his family, with who Keshwon Stallworth was according to Sheriff Morgan.

A Portrait of Keshwon Stallworth and a Story of Devastating Loss

Keshwon's sister, Shaquavia Sheard, told WEAR television reporter Rob L. Brown how devastated she was by his murder: "I don't know if I'm happy.  I don't know if I'm mad. I feel empty.  I feel lost.  I feel confused."

Keshwon's brother, Xavier McShan, told Mr. Brown of his own anger and emptiness:  "I know somebody knows.  Too many people are talking about it.  Somebody knows who did this.  I just want somebody to say something so I can lay my little brother down."

And Ms. Sheard told the WEAR reporter, "I'm hurt.  You understand what I'm saying?  That was my baby.... You could've took all my money and my furniture and my materialistic items.  But don't take away what I brought here.... I just want to know why.  Was it worth it?  Was it that important.?"   HERE












On April 10th, I interviewed Ms. Sheard at her home in Pensacola.


Ms. Sheard described her son, whom she nicknamed "Pooh," in a loving and honest way:  "He was an average teenager.  He loved animals, video games, especially football videos.  He loved sports and he was a 'sweet person.'  He was a 'momma's boy.'  He was my youngest child and he would always follow me around from room to room.  We always did stuff together.  My other children used to tease him for tattle talking."  She added that Keshwon "had his own mind" and was "determined."  In other words, he was a typical teenager.

Ms. Sheard did not believe her son Keshwon was selling drugs.  One day before he died, on Thursday (March 5th), he had asked his mother for money because he had none.  She did not believe any of his friends were selling drugs because they played video games in her house.  She told me that she preferred that Keshwon and his friends play in the house rather than being out on the street.

In the last couple of months, Keshwon was applying for fast food jobs using phone apps.

The Criminalization of Normal Human Behavior

I asked Ms. Sheard about Keshwon's schooling.  She told me that he "didn't like school" and that he had been sent to In-School Suspension (I-SS).  She explained to me that I-SS was another classroom where the young teens were sent to do extra work, while being confined to the room to eat their lunch.  As she described I-SS to me, it sounded like solitary confinement for teenagers--locked away from their classmates and neighbors, eating lunch alone, and guarded constantly.

I asked her why her son had been sent to In-School Suspension.  She told me that whenever he was sent to I-SS, the school would call her and explain that he had been "talking out of turn."  I asked her if he had ever been sent to I-SS for violent behavior?  "No."  Had he ever been sent to I-SS for gang-related behavior?  "No."  Had his teachers who saw him every day ever sent him to I-SS for anything that was "drug-related"?  "No," she responded.

In other words, Keshwon was sent to quasi-solitary confinement in school for "talking out of turn."  But, none of his teachers had sent him to I-SS for violence, gang, or drug-related behaviors.

Ms. Sheard said, "He wasn't perfect.  Nobody is perfect."  But, who is perfect?  Nobody on this planet can pass the "perfect" test--not even Jesus who had a Roman criminal record.  (For a discussion of how individual Black male imperfection is used by white Americans as an indicator of Black cultural depravity and proclivity to violence see Joan Walsh, Chauncey DeVega, and Ta-Nehesi Coates.)

But, Keshwon's trouble with the law, if you want to call it that, is really about a society that criminalizes ordinary Black human behavior that is not in any sense criminal.

Keshwon's problems with law enforcement started when he was 11- or 12-years old.  One day Kershwon got into a fight with one of his older sisters, who are six and seven years older than he is.  In other words, at the time, they were bigger and heavier than he was.  Ms. Sheard was not able to stop the fight physically, so she called the Sheriff's Office.  The Sheriff's Office arrested Keshwon.

Now, it is important to put this arrest into the context of what Sheriff Morgan told Rick Outzen on the Pensacola Voice radio show.  Speaking about his anecdotal claim that drug gangs in Pensacola are using younger and younger children to sell drugs, the Sheriff stated (at 5:50 to 6:07):  "You know the courts tend to be very lenient in working towards rehabilitation because our goal is to save young people, not to incarcerate everyone we catch because its not productive to society, it's not only a drain on the criminal justice system, its a drain on taxpayers.  The goal is rehabilitation, not incarceration."  HERE

So, does the Sheriff think that arresting an 11- or 12-year old Keshwon Stallworth for fighting with his sister is consistent with his philosophy of "rehabilitation, not incarceration"?

From this arrest, Keshwon was sent to Probation.  One morning, he overslept and missed a court appearance resulting in a Contempt of Court charge, according to Ms. Sheard.  Then, one night as he walking past a house that had been broken into in the Montclair neighborhood he was arrested by the Sheriff's Office.  His mother bailed him out.  Keshwon adamantly rejected the idea of a plea deal and was going to demand a trial as an adult because he had not committed any crime.

Concluding Observation

Every Black mother I have interviewed for the Street Report or just talked to casually in the community always explains that their son was "no angel" or he "was not perfect," as if being an angel or being perfect is even attainable.  Even Jesus had a Roman criminal record before he died.

Mainstream media, including even the supposedly liberal New York Times engage in this smearing of young Black men who are killed.  Michael Brown was "no angel," according to the newspaper.

Chauncey DeVega, the eponymous founder of We Are Respectable Negroes, wrote that "The news media 'humanizes' white criminals, presenting a narrative of a good person who somehow went wrong.  By comparison, black and brown 'criminals' are monsters.  Thus, there is no effort to psychologize, explain, or understand what would motivate the latter to break the law.... The news media's desire to niggerize Michael Brown is greater than the obligation to locate his life within a broader context.  This is a function of old fashioned racism, implicit bias, and a deep American cultural belief that black people are inherently pathological and dysfunctional."  HERE

Ta-Nehisi Coates, another of the young, insightful public intellectuals writing on race in America's history, laws, and consciousness, noted that "The 'angelic' standard was not created by the reporter.  It was created by a society that cannot face itself, and thus must employ a dubious 'morality' to hide its sins.  It is reinforced by people who have embraced the notion of 'twice as good' while avoiding the circumstances which gave that notion birth.  Consider how easily living in a community 'with rough patches' becomes part of a list of ostensible sins.  Consider how easily 'black-on-black crime' becomes not a marker of a shameful legacy of segregation but a moral failing."  HERE

Tom Hayden, a former state senator in California, wrote in the December 2005 Los Angeles Times of the pernicious effects of the myth of the Super Predator in providing the ideological excuse for the profit-driven expansion of the prison industrial complex and the distortion of public policy preferences.  Hayden wrote that the city budget of Los Angeles "reveals that the priority is to suppress and incarcerate, not to turn troubled lives around.  Fifty-five million dollars go to LAPD gang suppression efforts, a token $12 million to prevention programs for little kids, and a bare $2 million for intervention programs meant to channel teenagers away from violent paths."  HERE

I would be curious to learn if any social scientists in the Pensacola area can document a similar distribution of public money in Escambia County?

What I do know from talking to mothers and activists is that Escambia County does not provide basic things for Black children.  Some of the neighborhoods in the county portion of Pensacola are still waiting for street lights to cut down on crime; for surveillance cameras; for upgraded paved streets; for better schools; for more public transportation and later hours; for clean water; and, for less environmental pollution near communities of color, like in Wedgewood.

And, what of the young mothers and fathers with children working in Escambia County?  They need to earn a living wage of $15 dollars an hour.  They need subsidized day care.  They need an outreach program from local government to get them into the mental health system.

Someone killed Keshwon Stallworth.  But, Keshwon was victimized by Escambia County long before he was brutally murdered.  He was branded a criminal before he even turned 13.

And, in death, the Sheriff is still assaulting Keshwon, suggesting without evidence that he may have been involved in a gang, and, that his being burnt "beyond recognition" was "funny."

And, despite coming from a family who loved Keshwon deeply, who was a "momma's boy" and a "sweet person," Sheriff Morgan chose to deliberately call Keshwon Stallworth a "Super Predator."

In the next article, I will show that this "Super Predator" concept is not only believed by Sheriff Morgan, but that the concept itself is based on "junk science" and amounting to little more than "racist speculation."

Sheriff Morgan Revives "Racist Speculation" "Urban Legend," and "Junk Science," to Smear All Young Black Males in Escambia County as 'Super Predators'

"This was predicted, oh gosh, five, between five and ten years ago and they predicted what's called a 'rise of the super predator.'  And these are children of the generations coming up, you know, you've heard me speak of the 'no faith-family-community nation' type of thing.  And it's, it's on us."  Sheriff David Morgan on David Outzen's WCOA Pensacola Speaks radio show, April 7, 2015, starting at 3:02.  HERE

Sheriff Morgan Sees Keshown Stallworth and All Young Black Males as "Super Predators"

Rick Outzen opened his April 7, 2015, Pensacola Speaks radio show with this comment:

"We're seeing a rise, Sheriff, in more and more young crime committed by teenagers.  Of course, the big story is the one who was shot last month and the car he was in was set on fire.  Forensics were able to identify him this past week.  I've talked to Commissioner Luman May and he's concerned that there just seems to be more, that we have a new, younger, more violent set of teenagers that are coming out on the streets now."  HERE

Given this "softball" opening, Sheriff Morgan dove right in and revealed the racist mind-set he and presumably his deputies have regarding all young Black males in Escambia County.  Importantly, Sheriff Morgan based his department's perspective on criminological information provided by his wife, Susan, an instructor at Pensacola State College.  She earned a Master's degree in 1988 in Police Administration from Eastern Kentucky University and a Master's degree in 1991 in Public Administration from Troy State University, according to her interview with the PMOAA Beacon in June 2014.  HERE

Here is Sheriff's Morgan statement starting at 3:02 and ending at 3:45:

"That's true Rick and its not a surprise to us in law enforcement.  This was really predicted some time ago by the specialists in this area.  One of the nice things about having a wife that's a college instructor is that, who teaches Criminal Justice, is that I get to keep up to date on all the stuff.  This was predicted, oh gosh, five, between five and ten years ago and they predicted what's called a 'rise of the Super Predator.'  And these are the children of the generations coming up, you know, you've heard me speak of the 'no-faith-family-community nation' type of thing.  And it's, it's on us.  It's almost a dissociation from society."  HERE

Now, if Sheriff Morgan really "keeps up to date" on the latest research in criminology because his wife teaches Criminal Justice at Pensacola State College, then he needs a new source of information because the state of her current knowledge is about sixteen years out of date and what she is passing on to the Sheriff is a racist, demeaning, demonizing stereotype rooted in white supremacy.

The Myth of the Rise of the Super Predator

The term "Super Predator" originated in 1995 (not five or ten years ago as Sheriff Morgan claimed) by Princeton professor John Dilulio, along with the conservative academics James Fox (Northeastern University) and James Wilson (UCLA).

Writing in 1998, then PhD candidate in Sociology at City University of New York Robin Templeton explained:  "Much of their work is the functional equivalent of racist speculation about criminality popularized by eugenicists a century ago.  Demography is destiny, the theory goes, and today's press and politicians employ it to keep the suburbs afraid of young men of color in the inner cities.  For its proponents, the beauty of the 'superpredator' concept is its convenient adaptability.  Whether the report of the hour says crime is up or down, whether youth crime rates soar or plummet, the 'superpredator' threat warrants ever-tougher tough-on-crime measures."  HERE

Templeton also explained that even at the time (1998), the theory of the "Super Predator" ignored the consistent finding that the more young people in society, the less violent crime in society.  She wrote that in the previous 25 years, according to FBI crime reports, the correlation between the rate of violent crime and the number of young men aged between 15 to 24 was negative, meaning that "more young people in the population has meant lower rates of violent crime."

Templeton pointed out that according to a June 1997 article in the Wall Street Journal that Professor Dilulio was having second thoughts about punishing youths as adult criminals, though he had not abandoned his theory.

The New York Times, which presented a documentary report produced by the Retro Project called The Superpredator Scare, pointed out that "Murders committed by those ages 10 to 17 fell by roughly two-thirds from 1994 to 2011, according to statistics kept by the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  Mugged by reality, a chastened Mr. Dilulio has offered a mea culpa."  The 10:35 minute documentary is also at this website.  HERE

Steve Drizin, a professor of clinical law at Northwestern University's School of Law, wrote in September 2013 in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin's murder about the theory of the "Super Predator":  "The 'superpredator' was one of the most demonizing words ever used to describe young people in the history of the United States.  In the mind of Princeton Professor John Dilulio, who coined the term in 1995, superpredators were 'subhuman,' 'amoral,' 'feral' creatures ready to maim, rape, and murder Americans without a second's thought" [emphasis added]  HERE

Drizin also pointed out in the same article that in 2001, "the Surgeon General of the United States issued a report declaring that there 'is no evidence' that young people engaged in violence during the 1990's 'were more frequent or vicious than youth of earlier eras.'  The word virtually disappeared from public discourse and the 'superpredator' was relegated to the ranks of 'urban legend.'  But urban legends die hard..."  Or so Professor Drizin thought.

Indeed, this dead "urban legend" is alive and well in the mind of Sheriff Morgan and his Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

Writing one year later, Professor Drizin noted that the "'superpredator' myth was premised on junk science and inaccurate predictions based on demographics."  Commenting on the New York Times film The Superpredator Scare, Drizin noted that "In the film, Professor Dilulio, now at the University of Pennsylvania, issues a mea culpa, admitting that 'demography is not fate and criminology is not pure science.'"  HERE

Concluding Observation

Sheriff Morgan's assertion that his belief in the existence of "Super Predators" in Escambia County is based on "specialists in this area" and that his wife, who teaches Criminal Justice, "keeps him up to date on all the stuff" is pure unadulterated racist nonsense.

Sheriff Morgan's concept of a generation of "Super Predators" that is now "on us" is based on what real experts call "junk science" based on "no evidence" and having the validity of an "urban legend" rooted in "racist speculation."  Reduced to its essence, it is just "scientific racism."

The concept, "Super Predator," wielded by Sheriff Morgan is a term of art meant to demonize and denigrate young Black males living in Escambia County as being "'subhuman,' 'amoral,' 'feral' creatures ready to maim, rape, and murder Americans without a second's thought."  This very characterization is exemplified by Deputy Holcombe's description of the behavior of pregnant Shaquita Middleton and her super-power-walking mother Mrs. Lucille Middleton covered in a previous CJ's Street Report.  HERE

Is it any wonder that the Black community perceives Sheriff Morgan and his deputies as dangerous to their well-being and lives?

Professor Drizin noted that this mentality may have lurked behind George Zimmerman's reflex to kill Trayvon Martin:  "When the adult George Zimmerman saw Trayvon, perhaps he saw a 'superpredator.'... All of these features--the cold, long hard stare, the suspicion of drug use and weapon possession, the hoodie, his age, race, and criminal propensity--fit the profile of Dilulio's superpredator.  But they also fit the profile of many innocent young kids on our city streets, kids who are just walking back from the corner store with cans of pop in their hands and Skittles in their pockets."  HERE  "Furtive movements," anyone?

That Sheriff Morgan sincerely believes and promotes an "urban legend" based on "junk science" containing "no evidence" and amounting to little more than "racist speculation" about the presence and grave danger of the Black Super Predators living in Escambia County should set off alarm bells regarding the temperament and suitability of the Sheriff and his deputies.  Is this Sheriff really intellectually and morally fit to serve a third term?

UPDATE (4/12/2015: 1838h)

At the 9:20-9:25 mark, Sheriff Morgan made a correct statement regarding the decline in juvenile crime.  The Sheriff stated, "Now, contrary to what we believe though, our juvenile crime, and we tend to mirror national averages, has been trending down."

A January 1, 2014, report in the Pensacola News Journal noted that between "2008-2009 and 2012-2013 fiscal years the number of juveniles arrested in Escambia County decreased 32 percent, from 1,923 to 1,311."  Thus, the trend Sheriff Morgan cited and the corroborating data completely undermine his assertion that the "rise of the Super Predator" is "on us" in Pensacola.  But, as noted above, this trend undermining the validity of the "Super Predator" thesis had been present for decades.  This is not a new finding.

However, while there is another trend of less incarceration of juveniles in Escambia County, the fact remains that Escambia County leads Florida, the United States, and the world in incarcerating juvenile offenders as adults.  Again, the trend may be towards less incarceration of juveniles, but Sheriff Morgan's attempt to paint a rosy picture of our goal is "rehabilitation, not incarceration" is again undermined data.

An in-depth report published April 12, 2015, by InWeekly and written by Shelby Smithey, relied upon data and analysis from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Monique Gillum.  Gillum reported that "Florida sends more youth to the adult criminal justice system than any other state."  Smithey reported that "transferring children to the adult system increases recidivism.  Yet, Escambia transfers more of its kids per capita, 4.3 percent, than the state average, 3.5 percent."  Keyontay Humphries, Northwest Florida ACLU organizer, told InWeekly, "Escambia County incarcerates more children per capita than any other county in the state of Florida.... There are children who remain in the juvenile justice system, but then there are also children who are transferred to the adult justice side."  Amir Whitaker, an attorney with the SPLC, told InWeekly that Escambia County "is one of the worst places to be a kid in the state of Florida and in the country."  HERE

Escambia County's high incarceration rate of juveniles compared to all other counties in Florida and all other states in the United States has a devastating effect on our children in terms of losing the right to vote--an essential feature of democracy.  The SPLC's Monique Gillum told InWeekly, "Youth are losing the right to vote before they even have it.  We have to take a real close look at how we are treating our children."

Keyontay Humphries, the Northwest Florida ACLU organizer, told a mid-March 2015 town hall meeting of the Escambia Youth Justice Coalition, that "The U.S. leads the world with a per capita incarceration rate of 336 per 100,000 youth, and Florida is virtually tied with California as the juvenile incarceration 'leader' in the U.S.  This makes Escambia's shameful juvenile prison commitment rate not only the leader in the state, but the U.S. and world," according to a report in The Pensacola Voice.