Crime Drops as Criminals are
Locked Up -- Liberals are Stumped ...

... and looking for explanations.

One of the most entertaining things about liberals is how they twist themselves into pretzels trying to explain away and/or ignore what's patently obvious to anyone else.

I saw this piece on Opinion Journal's 'Best of the Web' and laughed:

Stop the Presses!
Forgive us for not noting earlier Richard Tomkins's scoop from last Friday's Financial Times: "We have a paradox. Crime is falling, yet we are locking more people up. Why?"

That's not the scoop. The New York Times had the story ages ago. But the FT has actually resolved the paradox:

I decided to ask David Green, director of the think-tank Civitas and an outspoken supporter of the "prison works" approach. Green said he saw no incongruity between rising rates of imprisonment and falling crime. Rather, crime was falling because more criminals were being locked up.

It's counterintuitive, but it sort of makes sense when you think it through. Kudos to the FT for its aggressive investigation.