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Radley Balko

American journalist and author

Radley Balko (born 19 April 1975) is an American journalist, author, blogger, and speaker who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and writes about criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties for The Washington Post. Balko has written and published several books including The Rise of the Warrior Cop and The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.

[F]reedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; representative democracy; equality before the law; and so on. These aren't principles we hold sacred because they're enshrined in the Constitution, or because they were cherished by the Founders. These principles were enshrined in the Constitution and cherished by the Framers precisely because they're indispensable to a free society.

Quotes

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  • Americans still believe we live in a free society and revere its core values. These principles are pretty well known: freedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to a fair trial; representative democracy; equality before the law; and so on. These aren't principles we hold sacred because they're enshrined in the Constitution, or because they were cherished by the Founders. These principles were enshrined in the Constitution and cherished by the Framers precisely because they're indispensable to a free society.

Shaneen Allen, race and gun control (2014)

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"Shaneen Allen, race and gun control" (22 July 2014), The Washington Post
  • [T]he typical person arrested for gun crimes is more likely to have the complexion of Shaneen Allen than, say, Sarah Palin.
  • [G]un control laws passed in the late 1960s were in response to racial riots taking place across the country.
  • [T]he crime control policy most well-known, widely loathed and roundly condemned by racial justice activists — the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy — is at heart a gun control initiative. Its most high-profile champion is former mayor Michael Bloomberg, also a high-profile proponent of gun control laws like those in New Jersey.
  • [M]ore gun laws and more enforcement of victimless gun crimes will mean more people in prison. Those new prisoners will be disproportionately black and Hispanic. These realities need to be part of the discussion.

Quotes about Radley Balko

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  • Madison's argument is commonly cited in favor of civilian control of the military. But it applies as much to the police and their "war on crime," in which the "enemy" is not some foreign power but the public, or some portion of the public. "There's now a dominant military culture within modern

police agencies," writes Radley Balko in Rise of the Warrior Cop. "Cops are told all the time that the public presents a threat to them, and that the threat grows more dire by the day."

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