Monday, June 12, 2006

SPIKE IN VIOLENT CRIME

In the 1990s, Bill Clinton pushed for, and got, new programs to fight crime. The result? Dramatic drops in violent crime.

That was then. Now, according to the Associated Press:
Murders, robberies and aggravated assaults in the United States increased last year, spurring an overall rise in violent crime for the first time since 2001, according to FBI data.

Murders rose 4.8 percent, meaning there were more than 16,900 victims in 2005. That would be the most since 1998 and the largest percentage increase in 15 years.

Criminal justice experts said the statistics reflect the nation's complacency in fighting crime, a product of dramatic declines in the 1990s and the abandonment of effective programs that emphasized prevention, putting more police officers on the street and controlling the spread of guns.

"We see that budgets for policing are being slashed and the federal government has gotten out of that business," said James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston. "Funding for prevention at the federal level and many localities are down and the (National Rifle Association) has renewed strength."
There were two homicides in Springfield over the weekend.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where was Vincent David John Jacob Jingle Himerschmit Shotenkirk Shimmy Shimmy Ko-ko Bop Ramma Lama Ding Dong Do Wah Diddy Diddy Gidyup Ooomp Pompa Oooomp Pompa Mow Mow Hiyo Silver Away Banana Fanna Fo Fanna Azuza Anehime Koo-ka-monga 2 all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onion on a sesame seed bun, Itsy Bittsy Tiny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Jericho Joiner-Kersee Sammy Davis Junior's little friends the Guardian Angels (henceforth known as the Red Hat Ladies) when these murders took place. Desdinova The Eternal Light.

Anonymous said...

They were busy patrolling Commercial Street, threatening homeless people and the elderly.

Anonymous said...

VD(J) said on his program this morning that they were gangs with hispanic names ... where were the Guardian Angels??? Appling some Accutane at that time of night? Lord knows they didn't have a date....

Anonymous said...

I feel that the effects of the Meth law enacted last year are having there predicted effects (I mentioned this last year in an letter to the Newsleader). Since domestic Meth is harder to make the short fall is made up of imported MEth from Mexica which has to be paid in cash (domestic Meth was way cheaper and you could make your own). The need for extra cash amonst addicts maybe causing the new crime wawve. I udnerstand that Tusla on of the first cities to restrict the sale of pseudo-E has been gripped by a crime wave greater than the national average.

Anonymous said...

The only people that law hurts is us allergy sufferers. Reguarding, Mr. Stone's report of VDJ comment on gangs with Spanish names, maybe it was like the character from Eugene Derbez's comedy show on Univision a "Blanco Hombre Actuar Gueto." Presidente Foxy es tonto. Desdinova the Eternal Light.