Customer Reviews

Complex Justice: The Case of Missouri v. Jenkins

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<Complex Justice> is about a relatively recent but little remembered (unless you happen to have been a Kansas City, MO or Missouri taxpayer) case in which a federal judge took control of a large city's school system to bring black students' test scores up to the level of white students'. Though he (1) ordered Kansas City, MO taxes to be raised, (2) diverted Missouri state taxes to the Kansas City (MO) School District, and (3), caused around two BILLION dollars to be spent to "upgrade" the school system which served mostly black students, the results were zero. It was a waste of 2 BILLION dollars by a federal court which thought it had all of the answers about how to raise black test scores -- and which didn't mind going through 2 BILLION dollars of taxpayers' money like a drunk at the racetrack in the losing gamble on an impossible result..

If the court and its "experts" had read massive psychological data on record at the time, they would have known that test scores depend on IQ which is (1), largely inherited and cannot be raised significantly, and (2), that black IQ in the U.S. is around 15 points (1 standard deviation) lower than white IQ on the bell curve. A good argument can be made that the court and its so-called experts were grossly negligent in taking the actions they took.

Joshua Dunn, author of <Complex Justice> did an excellent job in putting the account of the case, Missouri v. Jenkins, clearly and succinctly into book form easily understood by anyone having the sense to read it. This book is unlikely to be a best seller because it is not the type to attract a wide audience. Never mind. If you are attracted to read this review, you have enough brains to read and understand this excellent account of why central governments and high courts should never be trusted to legislate/decide morality and spend public money in useless attempts to remake society.

Thank you Joshua Dunn for your work in writing an excellent book about a shameful episode in U.S. legal history.