Living with staggering violence in South L.A.

Los Angeles Times ^ | March 28, 2008 | Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[A_perfect_lady]

That is, until the families of gang-bangers, and to a lesser extent, their victims, all decide to move out to the country to "escape the violence."

Don't worry. People like that rarely leave their own neighborhood. I teach in LA... the most thuggish children are the ones who have no intention of ever leaving the hood. The nice ones are the ones who evince some curiosity about the outside world.

[robertpaulsen]

"And they could end all this tomorrow by decriminalizing drugs."

And if you were around in the 20's you would have said, "And they could end all this tomorrow by decriminalizing alcohol."

The gangs will find something else -- guns, prostitution, human organs. Hell, legalize drugs and they'd probably get into the export business, smuggling our legal drugs to those countries where drugs remain illegal.

[BenLurkin]

"The people who live in these places are very tolerant of high crime."

Having spent some time in South Central I can tell you that the good people (which is easily half of the residents) fear the gangs. Rightfully so since the LAPD (God bless them) does NOT own the streets -- it can only make incursions.

So, tolerance really isn't the right word for what is happening.

[Doohickey]

It’s not the last paragraph because there is another page. The first comment, by “Jose”, is priceless and worth going back to look at.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Bump.

[Puppage]

And they could end all this tomorrow by decriminalizing drugs.

Yeah, that'll do it.

Don't forget midnight basketball.

[societygirl]

Many of these women will not rat out a man, period. Even if the man has harmed them However, those guys would rat out those women easily. Go figure.

[papertyger]

And they could end all this tomorrow by decriminalizing drugs.

Not a chance. If drugs were legal, they'd be into protection rackets or some such.

The horrifying truth is in order for "the people" to put down this lawlessness they'd have to be willing to literally kill their own children for the sake of public order.

[junkman_106]

What the hell is that supposed to mean? What “war on freedom” ? and what is “MRSA” ?

[marktwain]

“Actually, and I know it would be very un-PC, I would imagine a study of the incidence of this lawlessness and local corruption would find that areas/cities of majority Black populations are where this type of Societal breakdown is centered.”

---

Yes, that is true, but it is the particular type of leftest, victimhood, everything is whitey's fault culture that is at fault here. If you look at black people who are not part of that culture, such as Jamaican blacks or blacks from African culture, you don't find this type of dysfunction.

[reformedliberal]

I live in the country equidistant from the Twin Cities and Chicago. We get gangbangers here. Usually, they are resting at a farm owned by one of their buddies and they usually sell dope to the HS kids. They are easy to spot, as they dress distinctively and do the ghetto strut out of habit.

The local LEO was very ineffective. However, one of the smaller town cops is retired from LAPD. He is known as a traffic hawk and will stop anyone, anytime for any infraction. He is also a friend of ours. One day, he stopped one of the thugs for some minor violation. He ran his name and, surprise, came up with outstanding warrants. He simply let the guy know that if he didn’t keep heading out of the county, he would be turned in. AFAIK, he didn’t report this to anyone else. Yeah, it means that the thug was let go to target somewhere else, but at least he is gone from here, for now.

So, LAPD must know ways to get these guys.

[canuck_conservative]

Notice the map - the shooting occurred just a few blocks from MLK Jr. Blvd.

Remember the Chris Rock joke about how to find the most crime-ridden part of any city?

[papertyger]

But, again, people with IQ's down in the 80's & 70's tend not to have stable employment, nor do they tend to frequent public libraries.

Let's hope they never figure out the utility of a holosight over posing and posturing when they play "shoot-um-up."

[Future Snake Eater]

Yeah, I read those comments. Shows what they’re dealing with over there, doesn’t it? That city will be a sewer for generations.

[Haddit]

I would rather the scum stay in their neighborhoods killing each other than to fill the streets with drugged out drivers.

[marktwain]

“And if you were around in the 20’s you would have said, “And they could end all this tomorrow by decriminalizing alcohol.”

The gangs will find something else — guns, prostitution, human organs. Hell, legalize drugs and they'd probably get into the export business, smuggling our legal drugs to those countries where drugs remain illegal.”

---

Decriminalizing alcohol did work for a while, until the war on some drugs was ramped up.

“In 1907, when Georgia and Oklahoma made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors illegal state wide, the homicide rate in the United States was 1 person per 100,000 per year.[2] Before the end of the decade, 13 states plus Alaska, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia had gone dry.[6] By 1919—when the 18th amendment was passed, making alcohol use illegal nationwide—the homicide rate had grown to 8 per 100,000. The murder rate climbed steadily until it peaked at 10 per 100,000 around 1933, when our nation admitted its mistake, and repealed the 18th amendment. By 1943 the homicide rate had drastically shrunk to 5 per 100,000 and stayed near that level until 1964 when the United States made the same mistake all over again (see graphic).[2]”

http://w3.ag.uiuc.edu:8001/Liberty/Tales/CrimeAndDrugWar.Html

[robertpaulsen]

You mention alcohol and murder rates. Are you saying that the murder rate has climbed every year since 1970 (the Controlled Substances Act)? From your graph, the murder rate climbed until 1970, then leveled off.

So, I don't get it. What's your point?

[Chode]

so much for LBJ and his Great Society...

[Seruzawa]

I would rather the scum stay in their neighborhoods killing each other than to fill the streets with drugged out drivers

LOL! You already are! How nice it must be to live in a fantasy world. Surrounded by SSRI, percodan, codeine addicted doofuses all yacking on cell phones. But, oh no, you are "safe" because drugs are illegal. LOL! Back to sleep, slave.

[Bommer]

Actually, this is all they need!