selves, using concealed-carry firearms and Castle Doctrine laws, despite the rhetoric we hear from some parts of our nation and protesting organizations, the facts are clear from academics that this does work.” While it’s true that violent crime fell by half nationally between 1991 and 2013, according to federal statistics, other researchers have detected a negative correlation between stand-your-ground laws and crime. In 2015, the National Taskforce on Stand Your Ground Laws, convened by the American Bar Association, released a report that noted an increase in homicides in stand-yourground states. “What we found from the research of others, is that states that passed these laws with the promise that this was going to hold down crime, especially violent crime, and particularly homicide, was that homicide actually went up,” says Pitt professor Harris, who served on the task force. “So it does not stem the flow of homicides.” In an interview with CP, Harris expressed wariness about disparity-ofsize legislation being considered in the
House. He said a person’s size shouldn’t determine how dangerous they are, and said the amendment could lead to racial disparities. “Another reaction I have to it is, we know that when we look at perceptions of African Americans by others, AfricanAmerican males are often perceived as larger and more threatening than they actually are, given the same physical parameters as a white person,” Harris says. “This would appear to feed in to those very misperceptions, in moments of low information. This is going to cause real problems.” Harris says the public should regard the available research when considering the passage of the proposed legislation and others like it. “We should be very careful about accepting arguments that sound attractive without looking at the empirical evidence,” Harris says. “People who say this will control crime, law-abiding people can use this, we have to be aware about what the evidence actually is. You can’t let people get away with statements like that. You have to check the research and it’s out there.”
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