Chicago, NYC record lower homicide rates

herekitty · #1 01-02-2008, 03:08 PM

Chicago, NYC record lower homicide rates

Quote:

NEW YORK --
Chicago and New York are about to close out 2007 with the lowest number of homicides in more than 40 years, while cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami have seen killings go up because of what police say is a surge in guns and gang violence.

New York City reported 488 slayings as of Friday, versus 596 for all of 2006. The city is on track to have the lowest number of killings since reliable record-keeping started in 1963.

Homicides in New York reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making the city the nation's murder capital. Since then, the numbers have plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to computerized tracking of crime trends and the practice of strategically flooding high-crime areas with police officers instead of spreading them evenly through the precincts.

Chicago is on track to have the lowest homicide toll since 1965, when police reported 395 killings. The city had logged 435 slayings through Dec. 26. In the early part of the decade, police often reported more than 600 a year.

Chicago officials credit the improvement to their tough stance on gangs, guns and drugs.

"Those three ingredients, so to speak, are what we're focused on," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "That's really what leads to random violence."

Those factors were blamed for increases in murders in other cities.

Atlanta had 126 homicides as of Dec. 26, compared with 111 for the same period a year ago. Police attributed some of the increase to a New Orleans-based gang that moved into town after Hurricane Katrina. Members of the International Robbing Crew are accused of killing at least seven people in Atlanta.

In Miami, authorities say the proliferation of assault weapons led to an increase in killings, from 56 in 2005 to 79 in 2006 and 86 so far in 2007.

go NYC and Chicago.

as for my city, well, you know, I probably wouldn't say this to their faces, but I think "International Robbing Crew" is a dumb name for a gang.

I mean, what's a smart name for a gang? I don't know, but even if this name was super cool sounding, surely it's still inaccurate? "Southeastern" or "southern" robbing crew would sound better I think, if "robbing crew" is truly the most original name you can think of. Unless they are truly international, then my apologies of course.

Rotten Berry · #2 01-02-2008, 03:50 PM

Oddly enough, "strategically flooding high-crime areas with police officers instead of spreading them evenly though the precincts" is now partially (perhaps largely) responsible for the disproportionate incarcertation of minorities for various, kind of petty drug crimes!

Whoo! Because if we aren't going to lock them up for murder, we should nail 'em for drug charges or something.

But in all reality, it is good to hear that the murder rate is dropping somewhere. They have done a really stand-up job of cleaing up parts of Minneapolis, muderwise anyway. Still dirt poor, and still absolutely full of apathetic cops. But whatever.

fagarielina · #3 01-02-2008, 04:03 PM

the only good cop is an apathetic cop!

Rotten Berry · #4 01-02-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fagarielina

the only good cop is an apathetic cop!

You're right. I love the kind of police that won't help a lady who is screaming for help and shoot first because they don't give a flying fuck about the people they are working for (the public). What we really need is more stories about 15 year old kids getting shot in the back of the head. Yeah!

Wildwoman · #5 01-02-2008, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rotten Berry

Whoo! Because if we aren't going to lock them up for murder, we should nail 'em for drug charges or something.

The point of the strategy is the idea that big criminals commit little crimes as well. Part of the push to change tactics in NYC involved bringing in people for things like jumping the subway turnstile, which was always illegal, but used to just result in being ordered to appear at a future court date, and supposedly when they started processing farebeaters and people caught with joints in the park and whatnot, they turned up people wanted for bigger things. I am frankly suspicious of the claim that this made such a huge difference (as well as disturbed by the degree to which racism is intertwined with the practice), since I believe crime is down nationwide since 1990, even in places where they didn’t use these tactics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by herekitty

I think "International Robbing Crew" is a dumb name for a gang.

I mean, what's a smart name for a gang? I don't know, but even if this name was super cool sounding, surely it's still inaccurate? "Southeastern" or "southern" robbing crew would sound better I think, if "robbing crew" is truly the most original name you can think of. Unless they are truly international, then my apologies of course.

I might be inclined to give a break if they were Jews and were playing on the whole ‘International Jewish Conspiracy’ thing. Although, actually, if you were doing that I suppose it would be silly not to go the whole hog and just call yourself the IJC. Heck, I’d do that, and probably subtitle the name to include a snappier and funnier wording of ‘We Control All The Banks and Media. All Of Them.’

Rotten Berry · #6 01-02-2008, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wildwoman

The point of the strategy is the idea that big criminals commit little crimes as well. Part of the push to change tactics in NYC involved bringing in people for things like jumping the subway turnstile, which was always illegal, but used to just result in being ordered to appear at a future court date, and supposedly when they started processing farebeaters and people caught with joints in the park and whatnot, they turned up people wanted for bigger things. I am frankly suspicious of the claim that this made such a huge difference (as well as disturbed by the degree to which racism is intertwined with the practice), since I believe crime is down nationwide since 1990, even in places where they didn’t use these tactics.

I get the thought behind it...but I guess that the degree of racism and classism bothers me too. I'm of the opinion that even if you have squeaky-clean intentions, if the outcome of your policy seems racist -- it's because the policy is racist. I'm sure that they did bust some people that needed busting through their tactics, but I would guess that mostly it has resulted in wasting a lot of money on boring people who are doing pretty ordinary things.

And the tactic, to the best of my understanding, has really just resulted in more drug convictions. Even in places where marijuana is decriminalized, every single one of those convictions for a joint can be used against someone in a different setting, in the case of a relatively benign crime.

Violent crime has dropped significantly, so it makes no sense to have more people than ever in prison.

Wildwoman · #7 01-02-2008, 04:43 PM

I get your point totally, and I'm not a fan of the strategy. I know things were bad (and its been pointed out to me that really I'm too young to have understood how bad NYC was in say, the 1970s), but I think there pretty much isn't any way to get the racism out of that system, and it sure doesn't help anything when the people who suffered most when crime was high (people living in the highest-crime areas) are made to be afraid of the police. We had a judge actually rule that in a certain neighborhood running away from cops does not constitute probable cause that the runner committed a crime, because it could also represent a legtimate fear for one's safety.

I'm not sure if it's responsible for the petty drug conviction thing, although that wouldn't surprise me. In New York what you mostly hear about in terms of those convictions is the Rockefeller Drug Laws - severe sentencing requirement that the presiding judge of the case at hand must adhere to. I suppose the Broken Window strategy pulled in a lot of people who were then convicted under those laws.

kesh · #8 01-02-2008, 05:03 PM

is my birthday the murder reporting day, because lol

a 16 yr old was murdered 20 yards from my door on new year's night

Ophiel Ophiuci · #9 01-03-2008, 05:22 AM

Damnit, stop reporting good news, it creeps me out. I only want to hear about how crime is out of control because all the cops are corrupt and/or on crack!

vulgaris · #10 01-03-2008, 05:50 AM

I am not convinced those statistics are strictly correct. It would be interesting to know how they were compiled and what the statistician considered a "homicide". Such as whether the figures are based on what a court rules as a homicide and/or whether a homicide is only counted when a body (or part thereof) is recovered. The word 'homicide' appears and then the word 'murder' appears. Strictly, they do not necessarily mean the same thing.

Ophiel Ophiuci · #11 01-03-2008, 06:07 AM

Well maybe. We've had similar stuff here over crime statistics (basically, statistically crime is falling, but everyone insists there's anarchy on the streets, and tends to cite "common sense" as evidence), and to be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if the government's statisticians can't really be bothered anymore, since no-one believes them anyway.

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