Posted on 02/04/2007 7:33:38 PM PST by shrinkermd
...There were 161 homicides in this city last year, and there have been 18 so far this year, making New Orleans by most measures the nation’s per capita murder capital, given its sharply reduced population. Many of the victims and the suspects are teenagers. About two-thirds of the deaths have gone unsolved: the killers, in many cases, continue to walk the streets and are likely to kill again, the police say.
Other cities have plenty of murders. But only in New Orleans has there been the uniquely poisoned set of circumstances that has led to this city’s position at the top of the homicide charts. Every phase of the killing cycle here unfolds under the dark star of dysfunction: the murderers’ brutalized childhoods, the often ineffectual police intervention...
Hurricane Katrina’s devastation loosened the fragile social restraints even further, making the city perhaps more dangerous than ever.
The storm also pushed a teetering criminal justice system over the edge... Yet the police are trying to stop the violence by arresting more drug users and street dealers, many of whom are quickly released...
...The Police Department’s history of brutality and its emphasis on minor arrests have fed the mistrust and alienated many people who might be witnesses... .
As a result, the district attorney’s office has typically been able to go forward with only half to two-thirds of the cases the police have brought. With most assistant district attorneys earning only $38,000 a year, the turnover in Mr. Jordan’s office is high, and the experience level is low. Several studies by the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a local nonprofit group, show that as few as 12 percent of homicide arrests end in jail sentences
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The only justification for government is to suppress domestic and foreign enemies. Ultimately, all governments must use force and threat of force to achieve and preserve order. This is the one thing that New Orleans lacks--enforcement.
Reasons and explanations can be given, but there will be no peace in New Orleans until someone clamps down and clamps down hard.
As likely to tell of overpolicing than underpolicing. The M.O. for example could be to arrest the entire suspected presence of a gang when a killing is believed to be associated with the gang. And it turns out that the killing can only get pinned on a handful.
We can't win in New Orleans...it's a civil war down there. Let's withdrawal all US forces.
It's Bush's fault!
My solution: more jails coupled with a vigorous and prompt application of the death penalty for murderers.
Its a quagmire...and we should withdraw all troops now.
Forget Fiji, CBS should air Survivor: New Orleans. Now that would be must see T.V.!
Three and four generations of welfare dependency. Corrupt and inefficient government. Depravity hiding behind a facade of le bon temps. Shiftless, grasping grifters scouting prey amid the ribald revels that masquerade as holidays.
Yeah, that is pretty much a unique set of circumstances. And predictably, it has resulted in a populace largely amoral, irresponsible, and utterly unable -- and unwilling -- to deal with any measure of adversity.
Just blame Bush for it.
Time to decide collectively whether to live/act they are civilized human beings or barbarian animals....
Expect to be treated respectfully/limited/prosecuted/shot in accordance with your choice of lifestyle
I wouldn't expect the current DA to do that. He's a Clinton democrat.
"In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton named Jordan the U.S. attorney in New Orleans, making him the first African-American United States attorney in Louisiana history. Jordan retired from his position as U.S. attorney after a change in presidential administrations" http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/DA/portal.aspx?tabid=10
The violence problem is all due to the availibility of guns! Unscrupulous gun dealers in Texas, Alabama and Florida are shipping guns to N.O. gangs to drive up business. Or some hunter in Idaho has a gun stolen and because of Idaho's lax gun laws the gun winds up in New Orleans. Or something like that. /SARCASM
NO was a leader in number of per capita Murders before Katrina...
And why not? Anyone who would deliberately cause Hurricane Katrina to strike N.O. deserves balame for all ills.
barbra ann
...'n' dat function, 'n' da udda function...
I say this is how the typical NO residents act without a heavy hand to keep them in line.
Just what do you expect from the most corrupt city, in the most corrupt state, in the nation(former resident). Its a quagmire. Ship them a supply of body bags, cut off the money, and pull out. Its the Dim thing to do.
Pray for the citys that clutched the Asp to their breast.
Intelligent assessment, and I like your writing style.
"This will probably not occur until the right people are killed."
Enter, Divine judgment.
again?
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