An Academic has Second Thoughts on Ferguson Effect:  A criminologist has parted ways with liberal deniers of the "Ferguson effect," which suggests that crime has gone up amid the barrage of anti-police rhetoric resulting in a decrease in proactive policing following the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, in August 2014.  In this piece in the Washington Examiner, Michael Barone quotes University of Missouri at St. Louis criminologist Richard Rosenfeld admitting that, after looking over 2015 data from 56 large cities and noting that homicides jumped 17% and as much as 33% in some cities from 2014, "[t]he only explanation that gets the timing right is a version of the Ferguson effect."  Going back to 1960, the only double-digit increases in the nation were 13% (in 1968), 11% (in 1966, 1967 and 1971) and 10% (in 1979).  James Wilson and George Kelling introduced broken windows theory in 1982, arguing that proactive policing and elimination of signs of disorder could sharply reduce crime.  When the theory was employed in New York City beginning in the 1990s, homicides decreased from 2,445 in 1990 to 328 in 2014.  The numbers "aren't flukes or blips" says Rosenfeld, which discount the mainstream media's mantra that a "rising epidemic of racist police" is what is driving up the crime rates.

Court Considers MO Lethal Injection Protocol:  The Missouri Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday that a judge incorrectly dismissed a lawsuit last year challenging the state's procedures for obtaining lethal injection drugs.  Margaret Stafford of the AP reports that the lawsuit, filed on behalf of two former state lawmakers and two Missouri residents, argues that the state is in violation of federal and state law because it uses an illegal prescription to obtain pentobarbital from a compounding pharmacy for executions.  The lawsuit was dismissed in July 2015 after a circuit court judge ruled that taxpayers have no standing to challenge Department of Corrections' operations and the Missouri Supreme Court has jurisdiction in death penalty-related lawsuits.  At the time, the Missouri attorney general's office argued that the lawsuit was illegally attempting to enforce federal food a drug laws privately.  It is unclear when the appeals court will issue a ruling in the case.