Kentucky Governor Pretty Sure Homicide, Rape not "Evil"
Just hours after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin took to Twitter to lambast those “seizing” the slaying to push for political change.
“You can’t regulate evil,” he said.
And now, a short recap of some of the things that Governor Bevin doesn't think are evil, all of which are illegal and were policed in Kentucky last year.
- A person was killed every 18 hours, and firearms were used in 71 percent of all homicides.
- Forcible sex offenses were committed about every 90 minutes.
- Animal cruelty was committed every 19 hours.
- Assault was committed every 12 minutes.
This is as reported by the Kentucky State Police in their annual crime report. This report has a forward written by Governor Bevin himself, in which he writes that “Each criminal act is a stain on the beauty and integrity of the Commonwealth [of Kentucky]. In order for Kentucky to be the best possible version of itself, we must focus our energy on preventing crime and developing effective strategies to combat criminal acts.”
"Effective strategies," he says, "to combat criminal acts." It's almost as if he's trying to regulate... no, no. It can't be.
A serious crime occurs in Kentucky approximately every 2 minutes, per the state police report.
Kentucky Gov. Mike Bevin
Kentucky had a 44 percent clearance rate for homicides committed in 2016. Per the stat website Statista, that is 15 percent below the national average of 59.4 percent last year. Not such a good job regulating evil there, but hey, at least you’re trying!
Strange enough, Bevin should know a thing or two about regulating evil. Only 0.02 percent of Kentucky Group-A offenses (the most serious of crimes) in 2016 were committed in Frankfort, home of the governor’s mansion. That’s 4,695 crimes out of 202,601. Only 59 of the state’s 2,432 weapon offenses were committed in Frankfort in 2016. Again, that's just 0.02 percent. Nice job regulating evils in your stomping grounds, Mr. Governor!
Now, here is an incomplete list of things that are illegal and occurred in Kentucky in 2016 that Bevin doesn't think are evil.
- Animal Cruelty - 449 incidents, with no data reported in 2015
- Arson - 778 incidents, up 24.1% from 2015
- Assault Offenses - 41,823 incidents, up 0.7 percent from 2015, and making up 14.9 percent of all Group-A offenses in Kentucky last year
- Bribery - 85 incidents, up 13.3 percent from 2015
- Burglary/Breaking and Entering - 21,989 incidents, down 6 percent
- Counterfeiting/Forgery - 7,050 incidents, down 9 percent
- Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of property - 25,231 incidents, up 2.6%
- Drug/Narcotic offenses - 59,887 incidents, up 8.4 percent
- Extortion/Blackmail - 66 offenses, up 40.4 percent
- Fraud offenses - 12,363 incidents, down 4.5 percent
- Gambling - 18 incidents, down 41.9 percent
- Homicide - 474 incidents, up 29 percent since 2015 and making up 0.2 percent of all Group-A offenses in Kentucky for the year of 2016
- Human trafficking - 43 offenses, with no data reported for 2015
- Kidnapping/Abduction - 994 offenses, up 6.2 percent
- Larceny/Theft - 77,588 offenses, down 0.4 percent
- Motor Vehicle Theft - 10,620 offenses, up 11.8 percent
- Pornography/Obscene Material - 3,018 incidents, down 16.6 percent
- Prostitution - 424 offenses, up 5 percent
- Robbery - 3,623 offenses, down 5.3 percent
- Sex Offenses (forcible) - 5,050 incidents, up 7.2 percent
- Sex Offenses (non-forcible) - 582 incidents, down 6.9 percent
- Stolen property - 4,531 offenses, up 8.3 percent
- Weapon law violations - 3,895 offenses, up 14.6 percent from 2015, and making up 1.39 percent of all Group-A offenses in Kentucky for the year of 2016
(These are all considered Group-A crimes in Kentucky, the most severe offenses, like murder and arson. For comparison, Group-B crimes in Kentucky are offenses such as disorderly conduct and trespassing.)
To close his statement in the state police report, Bevin says he wants to make Kentucky so safe that it “shines like a beacon for the entire world to see and emulate.”
Hmm, I wonder if we could do so by somehow writing rules that would, hmm, regulate malicious, some may say "evil," crimes?
Just an idea.
