Violence on the Rise in US Cities

Violence in US cities is increasing to levels not seen since the early '90's, and law enforcement, social workers, and clergy are particularly concerned about this coming summer. Many of those at risk in the current trend are teenagers turning to guns to settle minor issues.



With images of warfare, bloodshed, and violence piped into our homes and glorified in movies and video games, is it any wonder our children are becoming increasingly violent?

With values and morals being eroded daily by the examples these kids soak up from the environment around them, it is only a matter of time before they start to act it out for themselves.

What really struck me was the last two lines of the article, and how this issue is being spun to justify more infringement of civil liberties, and a greater manifestation of the police state.

[edit on 9-6-2006 by UM_Gazz]

The snippet above from the article doesn't make a connection to city crime on a national level, maybe because of posting limits as indicated by the mod edit.

Perhaps I can add a little more info in this follow-up.

In Little Rock, Ark., there have been 33 homicides so far this year, slightly ahead of the pace of 1993, when gang violence caused a sharp increase. Sgt. Terry Hastings said most of the killings this year were prompted by drugs or soured relationships.

Philadelphia's homicide toll is running about even with last year's count, when a total of 380 people were killed, the most since 1997. In San Francisco, the number of killings is running at a 10-year high. And in Jacksonville, Fla., there have been at least 64 homicides this year, compared with 36 this time last year.

There have been many studies on this in particular following the events at Columbine. I believe they found that no one factor can be associated with this trend.

What about the purely statistical fact of increased population/increased violence? Would not a greater population have greater crime numbers? Pure statistics. Also the influx of Migrants and the impossibility of tracking them, their living conditions etc.

Crime has a direct correlation with the individuals current status in society, as indicated by gang relationships. This would also apply to the Illegals as they integrate into our culture at or below the poverty rate.

I believe personally that a large factor in Juvenile violence is the ACLU's attack on the parents ability to discipline their children. The military is a prime example of the benefits of discipline. Without discipline, an individual begins to believe all actions are correct actions as long as they do not get caught.

"Any incorrect action gone unpunished, is deemed correct."

So crime is suddenly on the increase by 12-16 year olds? Crime has been on the decrease for 2-3 decades now and all of a sudden it's really bad?
Do I smell more censorship, more gettin' religion, less rights, more drug wars, more BIG brother?

And this:

"I'm anticipating a very, very bad summer," he said.

Why all of a sudden? Must be meth, or crack. Other than that I smell a good ole down home heapin' of BS.

Seems I hear more stories like this more and more, that something has to be done, for instance they also claim pedophilia is raking in billions, where? In the US? Worldwide? Are 4/10 men that deranged?
The internet has to be restricted, crime has to be halted, freedoms taken away, big biz is losing money, and the list goes on.

I smell a huge rat and they are prepping us for it.

lol I am sensing a curfew effective immediately of 12-16 year old girls that is legally entrenched and parents breath *sigh of relief....

ah Hogwash with a capital H

edit: hogwash...correct *H





[edit on 10-6-2006 by NJE777]

Regarding the pervasiveness of violence and blooshed in the media and entertainments industries....

Remember the words of Mrs. Brovlovsky in south park(bigger, longer, uncut)...

"horrific deplorable violence is o.k., just so long as nobody uses any naughty language"

LMAO

Q

Jeez violent crime was at an all time low only two years ago as designated by a post I made last year here For anyone who may come up sooner or later that may try to attack firearms, I will just add this snippet from the article I referenced

Guns were used in 6 percent of all robberies, assaults, rapes and other nonlethal crimes, according to the report. That was down from 11 percent a decade earlier

As well as this

In fact I feel that the possession of guns in homes have helped fuel the reduction in violent crimes in this country and hope to see this trend continue.

In fact as we can see from the supporting link "Fatal gun accidents declined by almost sixty percent from 1975 to 1995, even though the number of guns per capita increased by almost forty percent."

I just wanted to add that before anyone raises any anti-gun issues trying to relate them to crime.

As far as I can tell from the article, this has more to do with poor law enforcement policy and lack of patrols. Tampa, FL used to be on the list of 20 cities for highest violent crimes several years ago, and when our new police chief came crime has dropped every year since then. We will not know for certain until this years crime statistics are released next year. Anyone have anything from 2005? My article reports on 2004.

i have a idea why the violence is on the rise ....cause the rich get richer and the middle class..hehehehe middle class, there is no middle class anymore. the poor get poorer..were all slaves to the system,,work , work ,work, cause if you let up a little your scewed cause the bills never stop coming...violence will rise when the dollar is harder to get..when people wages never rise but everything else that cost rises at alarming rates..the dollar in the end is the true root of Violence...gotta get it gotta have it gotta love it....GREEN

The rise in crime isn't just down in the states, a lot of major Canadian cities have reported violent crime spikes. Winnepeg, Toronto and Vancouver are all having a tough time with gangs at the moment. The last few years have seen rises in gang violence, including the 'Summer of the Gun'. While the homicide rate is still lower than it was in the early nineties, it seems to me that the bangers just have poor aim.

I know up here that a great deal of the hardcore gang members take advantage of probation and parole in order to commit more crimes. I think Semper Fortis is correct- in one famous case, a gang member was arrested on gun charges, set free with only probation, and about a week later went and shot a man to death at a funeral. I'm not sure they actually see any consequences to their actions.

With very little legal recourse as to defence of life or property...well, better hope that Detroit doesn't figure out we're here.

Originally posted by KLSyesca
i have a idea why the violence is on the rise ....cause the rich get richer and the middle class..hehehehe middle class, there is no middle class anymore. the poor get poorer..

That is absolutely correct, there is no middle class anymore, there is however, 3 tiers to the working/lower class...

Crime in general tends to run inversely to the economy. As the economy shrinks and people find themselves under financial pressure violence escalates. This has been particular seen in domestic violence. The economy has been tanking ovre the last year or so and crime has started to spike during the same period.

Originally posted by KLSyesca
i have a idea why the violence is on the rise ....cause the rich get richer and the middle class..hehehehe middle class, there is no middle class anymore. the poor get poorer..were all slaves to the system,,work , work ,work, cause if you let up a little your scewed cause the bills never stop coming...violence will rise when the dollar is harder to get..when people wages never rise but everything else that cost rises at alarming rates..the dollar in the end is the true root of Violence...gotta get it gotta have it gotta love it....GREEN

Agreed, there is dissention among the 'great unwashed', the peasants are revolting, to coin a phrase!
The thing that annoys me about it is, we always seem to turn against each other, there is no 'honour among theives' anymore!
Although i can see why, it's easier to rob a drug dealers house than a mansion, he won't report his stash stolen for a start, and the security has gotta be good in all those 'gated communities' that are springing up, we have them here in the UK too now BTW.

As far as the anti gun thing goes, i agree totally. I have, i'm ashamed to say, been a teal-leaf(that's 'thief' for you guys who don't know cockney rhyming slang:lol on a few occasions during my life, but this was in the UK, i would never have dreamed of doing it in the states, the high probability of me getting shot for a few bucks would have put that idea right out of my mind!
Incidentally, we are now allowed to take down a burglar with a weapon here in the UK, so long as you are in fear of your life and use 'reasonable force', ie. don't keep hitting him when he's already down, i feel safer in my home already, especially with my big whacking stick at the ready!!

Q

One reason crime could be growing is because the number of potential criminals has grown.

The major agr group of criminals is males ages 16-25. In the 90's, go back 16-25 years prior and look at the birthrates for those years. Youll find the reason for the drop in crime in the mid-late 90's tends to correspond with the drop in U.S. birth rates in the mid 70's-early 80's. In otherwards, less potential criminals existed.

The birthrate increased in the mid 80's, and thus, we now see an increase in criminal activity.

Its just another angle at looking at this.

When this thread first popped up on the board I almost posted a comment to the effect that the article looked like something that would be put out by the gun control crowd. I haven't done any recent research on crime statistics (especially in and around large cities), but I think the articles author may be mixing in editorial content on this subject.

Originally posted by NJE777

That is absolutely correct, there is no middle class anymore, there is however, 3 tiers to the working/lower class...

I don't know where in the United States are you two living but the middle class still exists. Work is hard....who knew about it huh?.. Anyways, as the article says the violence has risen among the young population "12-16 years old"..... Is not like these kids have been working all their lives and are tired of working so much....

If anyone wants to say that it is because of movies, violent movies have been around for a long while. Kids at that age know that "movies are movies", a fantasy, or at least most of them do. However, I do believe that part of the increase of violence has a lot to do with violent songs, from rap to heavy metal which only talk about killing, killing cops, killing those who look at you in a way you don't like, etc, etc.

Many kids nowadays have as role models rap singers/heavy metal singers. I do think it is about time that famous singers take responsibility for their actions. Yes, being rich and singing to kids to kill people does get to many kids these days, and make them act in ways they wouldn't if such songs an famous people were not "en vogue".

[edit on 11-6-2006 by Muaddib]

Muaddib, I nearly flipped when you blamed this one on rap music. I listen to rap music, I live around alot of people that listen to rap music, and none of them feel the need to kill another person. maybe its the fact they are uneducated, never had any real parents (born into a home where the parents did want them), and just straight out never gave a damn. Maybe the music isn't causing them to murder, maybe its just them.

Maybe if we stopped trying to shift the blame to other causes and just looked a bit earlier we would see the cause. maybe parenting is the problem. Why dont we EVER see the media come out and say "well ya know what...maybe they were just really crappy parents"? No its always music video games and movies. Couldnt possibly be the parents fault because then a person would actually have to take responsibility. Blame it on music, and its not really put on any one person. Plus then you think your solving the problem because you manage to connect something you dont believe is right, to something that isnt right, regardless if its really connected or not.

[edit on 11-6-2006 by grimreaper797]

Most of the stuff I see going on here in Jersey is gang related. Crips and Bloods moved in these past couple years and got big, causing lots of problems. MS-13 started moving in recently and they have beef with just about everybody else.

I was a bad SOB and gew out of it, but still listen to rap music. Blaming that sort of thing for kids' violence gives parents who aren't doing their jobs right an excuse.

Originally posted by Muaddib


Many kids nowadays have as role models rap singers/heavy metal singers. I do think it is about time that famous singers take responsibility for their actions. Yes, being rich and singing to kids to kill people does get to many kids these days, and make them act in ways they wouldn't if such songs an famous people were not "en vogue".

[edit on 11-6-2006 by Muaddib]

Fair enough.

If you want to blame violence on rap and heavy metal music, then don't forget to blame country western music for inbreeding, adultery, and drunk driving.

And don't forget to blame classical music for racism. Hitler had a big hard-on for Wagner.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
If you want to blame violence on rap and heavy metal music, then don't forget to blame country western music for inbreeding, adultery, and drunk driving.

And don't forget to blame classical music for racism. Hitler had a big hard-on for Wagner.

Skadi_the_Evil_Elf, you earned a WATS vote from me. Im tired of all of these self-righteous buffoons that have been condemning rock music since its inception. Now if you can come up with something to blame on "smooth jazz" I will be really thrilled...

thanks skadi for expanding it better then I could have. All music can be blamed for something, that doesnt mean it should be or is the actual cause.