Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot (Crime Victimization)

Abstract

In September of 2024, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on crime victimization.  This individual Commissioner Statement by Commissioner Gail Heriot is a part of that report.

The commission members who requested the Commission to undertake the crime victimization project (including Commissioner Heriot) wanted a report that would highlight the fact that African Americans are disproportionately victimized by crime.  In turn, they hoped that fact would be taken into consideration by policymakers who hear arguments that that low-income African American neighborhoods are “over-policed” and that police budgets should be slashed. 

Ultimately, however, the staff-written part of the report went off in a different direction, focusing more on gun control and other issues not covered in the original proposal.  In addition, the individual statements of one of her colleagues also went off in a very different—and quite troubling—direction.  That colleague wrote that even pointing out that African Americans are disproportionately victimized by crime is “MAGA Republican” and “race baiting.”

In her Commissioner Statement, Commissioner Heriot attempts to bring the report back to its original purpose.  She also responds to the member of the Commission who suggested the report was “race baiting.”

Keywords: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Gunnar Myrdal, crime victims, racial disparity, defund the police, over-policed, race baiting, crime victimization