From crime myths to SNAP cuts, in 2013, our bloggers covered it all. You voted (inadvertently, with your pageviews), and here are your top five MetroTrends posts of the year.
5) Is American criminal justice color-blind? The statistics say no. In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, John Roman of the Justice Policy Center analyzed data that show black-on-white homicides are far less likely to be ruled justified than homicides in which the races are reversed.
4) Poverty, race, and place: Map your metro. Graham MacDonald and Margery Turner of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center unveiled a new interactive tool to explore issues of poverty and race in their neighborhoods.
3) Ten myth-busting facts about welfare. In this post, the Center on Labor, Human Services and Population’s Heather Hahn debunked persistent myths about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
2) Stand Your Ground laws and miscarriages of justice. Along with his colleague, Mitchell Downey, Roman makes another appearance on the list with this 2012 post on Stand Your Ground laws and racial disparities.
1) Where do criminals get guns? Justice Policy Center Researcher Sam Bieler’s piece on the policy implications of our lack of knowledge about where criminals get guns was, by far, the most popular MetroTrends post of 2013.
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