Posted on 03/02/2009 4:32:03 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
As if we needed any reminder that times in America have changed, there is further evidence that the nearly decade-long rally of prosperity and reduced crime has ended.
We are officially in a recession, a panel of experts told us last week, after months of speculation and hundreds of thousands of layoffs. At the same time, many big cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Boston and Pittsburgh are reporting an increase in homicides this year, potentially signaling an end to the slide in violent crime.
In Chicago as of last week, police had recorded 612 murders so far in 2001 compared to 584 in the same period last year. And in New York City in a recent four-week period, shootings were up 36.7 percent compared with the same period a year ago and murders were up 25 percent — although crime is still down about 13 percent for the year.
Even urban undesirables such as squeegee cleaners, panhandlers and illegal street vendors are appearing in greater numbers in New York these days, after dwindling during police crackdowns in recent years.
With developments like these, it would be reasonable for Americans to grow concerned that the recession is bringing a return to the urban grime and violence more common in the '70s and '80s.
But criminologists disagree about the connection between a sour economy and spikes in crime and whether aggressive policing strategies introduced in the last decade can prevent a sustained rise in crime.
"There's no iron law linking [the economy and crime]," said UCLA criminal justice professor Eric Monkkonen. "This recession could see a crime wave or could not see a crime wave. It could promote crime, but it could be 15 years from now."
Will Desperate People Turn to Crime?
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I think it might start to go sky high, then level off and drop.
How many houses can the average thug break into until somebody gets his number? Three? Five? Ten?
I’m betting the low end of the scale.
And just like alot of other phenomena, 90% of the activity is done by 5% of the participants.
As the squeeze gets tighter on normal, J6P Americans, their tolerance for some of the stuff is gonna decrease.
Dramatically.
Sadly, it also probably means kids who cut through somebodies lawn to go to the swimmin hole and really aren;t up to no good might get some lessons they don’t deserve...
You don't know what the hell your talking about. No offense.
Look at the damn statistics man. We're basically talking *major* crimes here, like murder, rape, robbery, assault, vehicle theft etc.... You don't think people are going to report these crime?
Get real...Stop wasting my time here.
Where has this guy been? That horse fled the barn a year ago.
And, you're right, all the fly-over immigrants are in for a rude awakening. Especially those who thought it was hip to homestead the frontiers.
Look at the damn statistics man. We're basically talking *major* crimes here, like murder, rape, robbery, assault, vehicle theft etc.... You don't think people are going to report these crime?
Get real...Stop wasting my time here.
oh, righty... maybe it was just in this time..click here
maybe it was just in this time,also.....click here
maybe it was just schools don't count.....click here
maybe it was just it doesn't count if it's in Philly.....click here
maybe it was just it doesn't count if it's in San Fran.....click here
maybe it was just it doesn't count if it's in a National Crime Survey....click here
I'm sorry to waste your time with facts.... cause I don't know what I'm talking about and you do. Thanks for enlightening me. It's not like I've lived in neighborhoods that don't like snitches and the police just LOVE to fill out paperwork for stuff that NOBODY cares about.
I'm sure there are cops that cross every T and dot every I.... but just maybe there are some that aren't as motivated to "take a bite out of crime" cause they might have to put in 28 hours in a day just to keep their heads above water with all the paper work and bullsh#t they have to deal with, day in and day out.
not Republican cities....
but I’d stay away from Detroit, San Fran, LA, Miami and anything in NJ.
Curiously, New Orleans didn’t get any more wealthy but murders went down.
Hmmmm.....anything to do with the 300,000 people who left and didn’t come back. Did the murder rates in Dallas and Houston go up instead?
If crime is caused by poverty, how does one explain the strange case of Michael Pickens? Cornwall, Connecticut police arrested Michael Pickens, son of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, for burglary after finding him hiding inside a fishing store and a cache of store items outside the shop. People are poorer in New Dehli than New York and were poorer during the Great Depression than during the 1970s. The crime rate is higher in New York than New Dehli and the crime rate was higher during the 1970s than during the Great Depression. Poverty is not the cause of crime, though crime can be the cause of poverty.
Your thoughts?
I think that young men (inevitably the source of most crime, especially violent crime, but also property crime) need to be gainfully employed and/or in school full time.
Idle hands are the devil’s tools.
Then it's robbery. Alcohol or drugs may have been involved.
My thoughts?
Next time you catch a burglar coming in through the window, don't be surprised if it's a partner in Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, or AIG.
Your argument would hold water were it not for the fact that murder and armed robbery were higher during the 1930s.
Assuming what you say to be accurate, that doesn’t explain the comparison between New York and New Delhi. Why isn’t there more crime in New Delhi? And according to what I posted, the overall crime rate was still higher in the 70’s than the 30’s. Why was that?
As much as employed men earning a living honestly helps, even those types commit crime. Ultimately, one has to choose not to do a crime. We’ve heard the discussion about stealing bread to feed your family. What stops one from doing it?
It won't be a banker robbing me, it'll be a group of crooked socialists taking it out of my check, one of which is illegitimately president.
Yeah. LOL!
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It's not the 'honest' guy stealing to feed his family who causes the rise in crime.
Hard times bring despair among the weak. Despair, mixed with daily hopelessness and boredom leads to drug use in those areas where it is already part of the landscape.
Drug use leads to addiction. A jonesing junkie, crackhead or tweaker will hit anybody on the head if it means he can get well.
I saw plenty of it in the seventies.
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Street drugs. It is as simple as that and Clemenza can tell you that I do know what I'm talking about.
LOL...my hometown of Jackson Mississippi has been dangerous as Soweto since “fill in blank Mr Steele” took over the city 20 years ago.
What will a recession do?
Make them meaner, more resentful or corrupt?
always excuses.
After the yankees got through, my ancestors were eating rodents and pets but could still make a nice coffee or tea or pull out the jug for a stranger and did not turn into savage predators just because of desperate times.
It ain’t economy, it’s inherent culture.
violent crime bumped a bit in the 30s.
what I found more unusual was how violent crime quadrupled and then some right after 1900?
?????
immigrant ghettoes?
like the Lower East Side...just guessing.
note high murder rate in 70s yet 80s is touted as crack nurder rate when in fact it went down
cool stats
But that is where it is my contention that only a belief in a benevolent God can prevent and/or halt that downward spiral. Without that, what stops one from justifying his behavior?
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You are just a bit naive on this, the world is far more complex.
Also, there are millions of strong, honest, ethical people who have no solid faith or faith of any kind. The Ethical Humanist philosophy is genuine and provides a road map for maintaining a positive level of decency in society without any recognition of God.
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