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Simon Balto

Simon Balto is assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power


January 2024

  • ‘In times of plenty, funding for police rises. It rises when crime is high, and it rises when crime is low.’

    Crime in the US is once again falling. Can we rethink policing?

    Simon Balto
    The way we approach public safety is nonsensical – crime ebbs and flows, yet spending on law enforcement only ever goes up

January 2023

  • Memphis Awaits Release Of Police Body Cam Video Of Tyre Nichols' Arrest Prior To His Death Days Later<br>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - JANUARY 26: People attend a candlelight vigil in memory of Tyre Nichols at the Tobey Skate Park on January 26, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. 29-year-old Tyre Nichols died from his injuries three days after being severely beaten by five Memphis police officers on January 7. The officers have since been fired with criminal charges against the officers announced today. The video of the police encounter is expected to be released on Friday. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    The killing of Tyre Nichols was heinous and shocking. It was also not an aberration

    Simon Balto
    The majority of Americans have resigned themselves to accepting policing as it currently exists. This must change

June 2022

  • House January 6 Select Committee Hearing in DC<br>epaselect epa10005092 A video of former US President Donald J. Trump speaking on 06 January is played as Vice Chairperson and Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming delivers her opening remarks during the select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington DC, USA, 09 June 2022. The committee will hold at least five more public hearings in the coming weeks. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

    How was the first January 6 hearing? Our panel weighs in

    Francine Prose, Lloyd Green, Simon Balto and Geoffrey Kabaservice
    On Thursday, the first of long-anticipated public hearings on January 6 were aired. What did we learn from them?

April 2022

  • ‘Adams furiously pledged to double the number of police officers employed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.’

    No, more police won’t make New Yorkers – or anyone else – safer. It never does

    Simon Balto
    After the subway shooting last week, New York City mayor Eric Adams declared he will deploy more police to the subway. But that’s the last thing that will help

May 2021

  • US-POLICE-RACISM<br>A man raises his hands during the funeral for MaKhia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio on April 30, 2021. - On April 20, 2021, police in the US state of Ohio fatally shot a Black teenager who appeared to be lunging at another person with a knife, less than an hour before former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd. (Photo by STEPHEN ZENNER / AFP) (Photo by STEPHEN ZENNER/AFP via Getty Images)

    We are told America is living through a ‘racial reckoning’. Is it really?

    Simon Balto
    We are now living in an era defined not so much by racial reckoning, but more so by the desperate, gasping grasps at reclaiming white innocence

April 2021

  • ‘Biden deserves much praise for all the good he has done. But he’s also made clear where he’s willing to spend his political capital.’

    Were Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office a success? Our panel’s verdict

    Kate Aronoff, Simon Balto, Moira DoneganJill Filipovic, Geoffrey Kabaservice and Bhaskar Sunkara
  • Thousands of people gather for a peaceful demonstration in support of George Floyd and Regis Korchinski-Paquet and protest against racism, injustice and police brutality, in Vancouver, May 31, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

    There’s hope for racial justice in America. But it comes from the people – not the courts

    Simon Balto
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