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1. Really interesting to watch reporters like @julieshawphilly drum up Willie Horton type fears in order to play into public misperceptions about crime in Philly. It's a master-class in mass incarceration style journalism.
2. The article seeks to link the DA's decision to divert specific gun possession cases to specific later crimes. It concedes that these decisions, of course, look completely different in hindsight. (Which makes one wonder the use of doing it.)
3. But more critically, it relies on public perceptions – and to some degree misperceptions – about gun crime in Philly. Those misperceptions are driven in large part by she and her colleagues – and the ideology of mass incarceration they are so committed to.
4. It's true that homicides are up in Philly this year. And they – the Inquirer crime reporters and their police and former-DA's office friends – are absolutely desperate to find a way to pin that on Krasner, despite zero evidence to support it.
5. Through their ideology-driven reporting, the press has managed to create a stir around the homicide rate, frame the story around Krasner.
They don't mention the number of homicides this year so far is EXACTLY THE SAME as it was during the last year of Seth William's tenure
They don't mention the number of homicides this year so far is EXACTLY THE SAME as it was during the last year of Seth William's tenure
6. Also check this out, in @julieshawphilly article attempting to link prosecutorial diversion to specific gun crimes, she doesn't mention SHOOTINGS ARE DOWN IN PHILLY. I mean are you kidding? I mean, what kind of journalistic malpractice is that.
7. But "malpractice" is really too kind a word for what @julieshawphilly and the Inquirer crime reporters are doing. Malpractice doesn't convey that this is ideologically driven. They are committed to the simplistic mass incarceration narrative. Truth be damned.
8. That simplistic mass incarceration narrative – "Krasner is a reformer and therefore crime must go up" – is so deeply engrained. The trope is so familiar. The fact that the data doesn't support it doesn't really matter.
9. One could write 1000 different stories about the frankly mixed crime data in Philly. It's down by some metrics, up by others. One could compare it to last year, two years ago, five or ten years. In some cases the data is bumpy, other cases there are long trends.
10. And crime data is influenced by 1000s of things – personal choices. Drug batches, gang-conflicts, personal finances, policing, the weather, feelings of despair, prosecution policies, social services.
11. Reporters could simply admit that crime fluctuates. Homicides sometimes go up as shootings or violent crimes go down. Sometimes they are up compared to last year and down compared to three or five years ago. It may be for 100 tiny reasons. And we don't really know why.
12. The idea that "Krasner is a reformer therefore he is responsible for crime going up" is not journalism, it's an abdication of journalism. It is the retelling of a convenient myth, false, but soothing to some who gain cultural and political power from its retelling.
13. We know the harm that @julieshawphilly's mass incarceration journalism has. It leaves the public afraid and misinformed. These crime reporters *know this*. They know they are injuring our public dialogue and leaving their readers dumber. They don't care. 
14. One more point. The Willie Horton journalism that @julieshawphilly engages in is notable for how it raises up the value of caging people, but never the cost. Here is some of what she leaves out.
