CNN: Violent crime rate takes first big jump since '93

[DeepModem Mom]

Violent crime rate takes first big jump since '93
Murder rate climbs in smaller cities
From Terry Frieden
CNN
Monday, June 12, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the first time in 13 years, the violent crime rate has jumped significantly in the United States, with the biggest increase in the Midwest, according to figures released by the FBI on Monday.

The murder rate in the United States shot up 4.8 percent last year, and overall violent crime was up 2.5 percent for the year, marking the first significant annual increase in crime in the United States since 1993, the FBI said....

***

Some experts have cited an aging population and stiffer sentencing as key factors which contributed to the gradual reductions in crime throughout the '90s and into the start of the new century.

But several leading criminologists say those factors are changing...."There is an 'echo boom', with an increasing number of late adolescents, particularly blacks and Latinos," said criminal justice expert James Fox of Northeastern University.

"Also, more people incarcerated in the '80s are now being released to their neighborhoods, and some are back to their old ways and old gangs," Fox said....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/12/crime.rate/index.html

[UpInArms]

1. Higher rates of hopelessness, desperation, joblessness

depression run in a concurrent fashion with Republican rule. (jmho and observations over several decades)

(edited for spulling)

[CrispyQ]

2. I would agree.

Overall, the population seems to be in better spirits when the Dems are in charge.

[cantstandbush]

38. The tone is set at the top!!

If Clinton were in office, the Rethugs would be saying it was his low morals that caused the increase in violent crime. Well, Bush is in office and I say the tone of this administration of abuse and atocities, death penalties, climate of corruption and all is to blame for this. This administration does not respect "life" unless it is that of a fetus, so why should the rest of us?

[tom_paine]

46. Unquestionably. The is an oft confirmed cause and effect link

between poverty and crime.

In so many ways the bottom 80% and even more so for the bottom 40% are immeasurably poorer and weaker.

As is the once-free Amerika immeasurably poorer and weaker since our dark night of the soul began with a Tinpot Caesar's stealing the nation on 12-12-2000.

No 12-12, smaller or no 9/11.

[AngryAmish]

55. Naw, it is all demographics

There just happen to be more young people today than in previous years. Young folks (men actually) with unmarried parents are most likely to offend. When there are more of these folks then you get the most crime.

For example the highest crime rates were during the baby boomers younger (under 35) years. See Once the Boomers became too old to stay criminals the rates went down. There are more young men of criminal age than in the 90s so crime goes up.

The only thing you can do to reduce crime is put the worst of the worst in jail for long periods of time. This is very expensive. Guiliani type reforms do not reduce the rate anymore than special rocks prevent tiger attacks. (There is one policing reform I do support is that a database of crime locations so you can make police more accountable for their area.)

[cspanlovr]

3. Of course it has,

This always happens when the gap between the have's and have not's gets so wide. Just look how effective the "gay marriage amendment" was. A world renowned female impersonator was beaten in the East Village (of all places) yesterday. A little hate goes a long way.

[Waya]

4. Direct result of rising poverty levels....

.....not surprised.....

[AndyA]

5. The violent crime rate will continue to rise if things continue

as they have been. The gap between the haves and the have nots has widened greatly in the last 6 years, thanks to the Bush Administration's reckless and irresponsible policies. Giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest people in the nation, while insulting average Americans with small tax cuts has added fuel to the fire.

Face it, things aren't so hot. Too many quality jobs have been outsourced overseas, replaced by dead end, low paying jobs with no benefits. More Americans are living in poverty. More Americans are living without insurance. More Americans are discovering they can no longer pay their bills, due to high energy prices, and the loss of good jobs.

George Bush's economic policies are an outrage, and we are just now beginning to see the results of his foolishness. Higher interest rates, higher gas prices, higher foreclosures, higher credit card defaults, higher crime rates, higher desperation among Americans.

People who would normally be happy to work hard, pay their bills, and take care of themselves and their families have found it impossible to do these things, because the Bush Administration has set the average American up to fail. The tools for success have been removed, one at a time, since Bush took office.

Yer doin' a heck of a job, Bushie.

[Amonester]

11. Ding Dong: While the deaf, dumb & blind Marie-Antoinettes rule...

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_3902574
(Pasadena Star News, 06/06/06)

Bush economy widens gap between rich, poor

THE White House is frustrated that it can't seem to get credit for the arguably booming economy. With unemployment low - just 4.6 percent, virtually full employment as such matters are measured - and with profits prospering, why all the long faces?

The polls find consumer confidence only so-so and slipping. Most folks think Democrats would be better stewards of the economy than Republicans are. (This adds insult to political injury. Republicans know, from telling each other that it is so, that they are the true keepers of economic wisdom.)

But the disconnect, as they see it, that so confounds President Bush and his crew is easily explained. Talking to their well-off friends and colleagues, the Bush crowd is talking with the winners. The high-bracket johnnies are doing very well, thank you. For the makers, sellers and buyers of luxury goods, this is party time.

Outside that privileged circle, matters are not quite so cheery.

The rich have been getting richer and the poor poorer at a clip that would have impressed even the court at Versailles. The economy grew at a robust 4.2 percent in 2004, but family incomes for mid-range earners fell for the fifth year in a row.

That gap has been additionally widened by the Bush tax cuts, tilted steeply to the already rich. The administration boasts that everybody got in on the deal. Yes, but if you count four-star restaurants and homeless feeding stations, everybody eats, too, but rather differently. Households hauling in $1 million have had their incomes sweetened by 5.4 percent thanks to the tax favors - on average, a $103,000 bonbon every year.

The minimum wage was last raised - and then only by 40 cents an hour - in 1997, the longest dry spell ever.

Jumped-up gasoline prices don't make the well-off sweat, but they turn up the heat on most folks.

The work-a-day don't

Advertisement

find their lot improving but are spectators at the corporate extravaganza that is lavishing record-high megabuck deals on CEOs and other top hirelings. Even failed bosses can make more getting fired than most folks earn in a lifetime.

The number of us without health insurance - 45 million and counting - is steadily expanding, casting a frightening shadow, like a looming movie monster, over millions more. Who'll be next?

Pensions are wobbly, college costs are leaving many families behind and interest rates are rising, nudging home ownership beyond the range of many.

And the unemployment rate is not, in practice, quite as smiley-face as the White House makes it out to be. It is bolstered in part by former job-seekers who have given up and dropped out of the work force. What is more, the number of hours typically worked is declining, undercutting personal income.

Last month saw only 75,000 new jobs open, where economists had expected 175,000. Over the last three months, the average job growth of 125,000 has failed to keep up with population growth.

President Bush may want cheers, but can hardly expect them for a hollow, borrow-and-spend prosperity bought with record deficits that assure future troubles, demand high federal interest payments now and distribute even their short-term benefits mostly to the people who need them least.

[e-mail]

Tom Teepen is a columnist for Cox Newspapers based in Atlanta.


But, but, but, that evil Zarq (who never walked on US ground is dead!! "Hurrah!" - sheeple)
duh... :grr:

[RufusEarl]

6. Violence!

It's just my humble opinion, but we have a on going war and it makes me think that this leads to violence.

All the other reasons posted here contributes to the problem as well, but it still leads back to TV and war for me.

Peace!

[qanda]

7. We are as violent a society as any that has ever existed

And then we wonder why the violent crime rate goes up? Ask all the newspapers that plastered Zarqawi's face all over the front pages last week or all the many leaders of this country that basked in fact that we had murdered him.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. It's the economy, stupid

...

[newportdadde]

9. In my neck of the woods things do seem different.

I live in a suburb outside of Kansas City. My wife and I have been in the neighborhood for 6 years. During that time we frequently visit the subdivisions small city park, its tucked quitelyin the back corner. When our son was born 2 years ago the park was always clean, virtually empty.

In the past two years things have really changed. Often there are broken beer bottles, torn up playground equipment(like for ages 2-6) etc. Lately its been roving bands of skateboarders, bike riders(about 10 at a time) sitting, playing, abusing kiddie slides etc while they smoke grass.

I feel like a prude but damn its annoying, and I find myself asking... WTF happend to the parents? Am I seeing the results of parents working 2 jobs a piece here or something? These kids are just adrift. When I was their age I would have been baling hay on the family farm or doing chores etc on the farm after school. I wonder were mom and dad are...

For violent crime well I see and here more of it here in KC as well.

[beltanefauve]

53. Mom and Dad

are busy struggling to stay middle-class. Many middle-class folks have slipped into the lower-middle in the past five years, but they just don't want to admit it. After all, this isn't what the American Dream is supposed to be all about. Never mind the two-parent income: most folks I know are selling Mary Kay or picking up catering jobs on weekends or have a side business on E Bay. This used to be for "extra" income. Now, its what these people need to do just to maintain. And the lack of parental presence is only one factor in the rising crime rate.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. My ideas on why this is happening

I agree with several posters here that the gap between rich and poor and outsourcing of jobs makes violent crime more likely.

I also think that the atmosphere of hate makes it easier to be violent. (Think of the cons who have supported Coulter's vile words; many will hear this and think anything goes, including attacking gays.)

Sadly, another factor are the returning Iraq vets who are not being treated for PTSD. There have been many incidents that have been posted here about the tragedies that have occurred because of it.

[Laughing Mirror]

12. Music to the ears of the private prison industry?

Did stock shares jump high at this welcome news? More violent crime means more criminals, more warm bodies to fill available cells, so more, more, more must be built to house them all.

[saigon68]

13. " Lock up the Darkies" cried the Chimpanzee

[ismnotwasm]

60. Prison fodder

One of the largest industries in the US needs to be fed on a regular basis. Making sure those at the bottom to the middle class get left out, cut out and ignored is a great way to feed the monster.

[Doctor_J]

14. Let's see...what happened in 93?

Oh, that's right - we were subjected to "President Bush". What a fucking coincidence.

[lovuian]

15. Poverty causes crime

thats a reality and as we get more poverty
we will need bigger and bigger prisons...

[Laughing Mirror]

16. Wealth causes even bigger crimes, crimes against humanity for example

But those criminals never see the inside of a prison, only the insides of presidential palaces, White Houses, etc.

[sofa king]

17. God damn it, we KNOW what's going on.

And it has nothing to do with "an increasing number of late adolescents, particularly blacks and Latinos." I cite the reduction in violent crime at the exact same time that the "Baby Bloomers" of the early 1980s reached adolescence.

It has everything to do with the fact that real wages have gone into the toilet since the thieves came to town. It has everything to do with rising rents, reductions in rent controls, and gentrification. It has everything to do with rising fuel prices.

It has everything to do with the fact that it is once again more cost effective to make a dishonest living than an honest one.

It has everything to do with our youth emulating the contempt of the rule of law daily displayed by our leaders.

And it has everything to do with the fact that the criminals in charge have resorted once again to racial exploitation in order to distract from their enormous crimes.

Those villains. I knew they were going to do this.

[Vogon_Glory]

18. Freakonomics--the Abortion Factor?

Might the rise in the violent crime rate be an echo of the Raygun administration's all-too-successful efforts to limit access to abortion?

I suspect that if middle-aged right wing-nuts succeeded in totally outlawing abortion, less than eighteen years later they'd find themselves cowering in their dwellings in fear of getting mugged and thinking that even the lawless 1970's were bygone days of law and order.

[jsamuel]

19. I predicted this about 6 months ago...

:(

When people are economically in trouble for an extended period of time, society starts tearing at the edges...

[noel adamson]

20. Violent crime down in "liberal" places like NYC, L.A., Detroit...

...according to these stats as reported by AP (via http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13146115/">MSNBC).

[slackmaster]

24. Are Philadelphia, PA and Hartford, CT considered "liberal" places?

:shrug:

[noel adamson]

26. Got me...

...My main recent association with Philly is the thread here on a restaurant with an "english only" policy, the insane bombing of the "Move" house some years ago and Hartford...well it's over three thousand miles from here (Eureka, California). NYC, D.C. and L.A. are pretty well known. I grew up in the greater D.C. metropolitan area...over 40 years ago... :hippie:

[-..__...]

40. Not so in Boston...

Menino resolves to add police
Seeks 140 new officers, double previous plan

By Matt Viser and Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff | June 13, 2006

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that he intends to boost the Boston Police Department by about 140 officers over the next year in response to the surge in violent crime troubling several neighborhoods of the city.

The increase is double the 70 new officers that Menino called for when he unveiled his city budget proposal in April, and the addition appears to be aimed at quelling the pressure from community leaders and city councilors over violence in the city. The number of homicides hit a 10-year high in 2005, and the number of shootings increased by nearly 80 percent this year.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/13/menino_resolves_to_add_police

[noel adamson]

42. Well laying off a lot of the police force may have had something to...

...do with that. I wonder if homeland security bucks has anything to do with D.C. and NYC's improved figures and, if so, what will the severe cuts do to that?

[daleo]

21. No surprise people turn to violence when the president gloats over death

Sure there's more to it than that, but it sure doesn't help. Bush and the neo-cons have normalized violent behavior.

[PSPS]

22. Makes sense. 13 years ago, Clinton was inagurated.

Way back then, the economy was beginning to bustle, Cliton's economic policies were being put in place, we were still a relatively sane nation.

Now we've got five years of punishing policies thanks to bush and his cult of misery and death.

[PeaceProgProsp]

23. Because Republicans are so good at fighting crime?

Because everyone's in prison and on death row?

[MrBenchley]

25. We're saddled with the most gun crazy administration in history....

This is the bunch that put assault weapons back in stores and bends over for the gun industry...no suprise violent crime is soaring.

[Tannim]

39. Need to be careful here

Research is necessary to prove this hypothesis.

If this is a tactic that people want to use to reinstate the AWB, then you'll need data showing these crimes were committed with weapons banned under the AWB. Otherwise you won't be prepared when data surfaces that shows these crimes involved baseball bats, or knives, or unarmed groups of people.

[MrBenchley]

43. No we don't....

"Otherwise you won't be prepared when data surfaces that shows these crimes involved baseball bats, or knives, or unarmed groups of people."
Off in RKBA fantasy land.

[Tannim]

47. if you want nothing to change, you don't

If you wish to influence the general population, you need to have the ability to debate points. By saying "No we don't" you surrender the argument to the people who can produce data to support their position.

[benEzra]

54. All rifles combined account for less than 3% of homicides...

and this percentage has remained consistent for decades.

www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/offense_tabulations/table_20-22.html

Rifles of any description are not, and have never been, the weapons of choice of criminals, and there is no data anywhere to suggest otherwise, as far as I am aware.

[MrBenchley]

58. The general population already wants assault weapons banned

by an overwhelming margin....just as they support other sensible gun control measures.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2000_April/ai_62949357

"you surrender the argument to the people who can produce data"
Considering the gun loonies' "data prodcuer" is a racist crackpot synonymous with academic fraud, I'm not too worried.

[slackmaster]

61. The general population is largely ignorant of the subject

That would be the same general public that believes in angels and wants to ban gay marriage.

Who gives a flying fuck about peoples' uninformed opinions about a topic that has been the subject of some of the most deceptive propaganda of recent decades?

[MrBenchley]

63. They sure as shit know more than the gun nut crowd

that follows men of jenius like Ted Nugent and Randy Weaver.....

[Tannim]

68. old data point

Your poll is 6 years old. You'll need something newer than that.

"Considering the gun loonies' "data prodcuer" is a racist crackpot synonymous with academic fraud, I'm not too worried."


I didn't know FBI crime data was complied by someone like that..... Because the link in the responce about is what you'll be facing.

[benEzra]

51. "put assault weapons back in stores"

What, exactly, do you mean by this statement?

More "assault weapons" by your definition were sold 1994-2004 than in the previous three decades combined. The 1994 Feinstein ban prevented newly manufactured civvie AK lookalikes and AR-15 pattern rifles from having bayonet lugs and adjustable stocks, but it did not remove anything from stores.

I bought my civvie AK lookalike in 2003; it's a 2002 model.

[slackmaster]

62. I bought an AR-15 in 1999, and another one in 2000

Right here in California.

[MrBenchley]

64. Yes, Ben, we know you want to pimp for assault weapons....

And of course, the reason why the gun lobby fought tooth and nail to block renewalk of the ban was because it was so ineffective (snicker).....

[benEzra]

65. We gun owners fought the ban because it was an attempt

to limit the scope of legitimate gun ownership to high-powered hunting weapons, when 80% of gun owners don't hunt.

But, let's examine your hypothesis that the "assault weapon" bait-and-switch reduced violent crime. Here were the effects of the Feinstein law, on the ground:


(A) It roughly tripled the number of AR-15 type rifles and civvie AK-47 lookalikes in private hands, and helped make the AR-15 arguably the most popular target rifle in the United States.


(B) It raised prices on factory-capacity replacement magazines for full-sized handguns (but not rifles).


(C) It made high-quality, major-caliber handguns much more concealable, as guns were downsized to 10 rounds capacity to take advantage of the cheaper magazines.


(D) It prohibited newly manufactured AR-15 type rifles, civvie AK lookalikes, and other small-caliber civilian rifles from having bayonet lugs and adjustable stocks (pre-'94 firearms exempt).


(E) It prohibited any civilian gun from being marketed under any of 19 scary names.


(F) It led directly to the passage of concealed-carry reform in 30 or 40 states.



So, which effect do you think might have reduced crime? Increased "assault weapon" sales? More concealable handguns? Passage of concealed-carry laws? Or the restrictions on bayonets?

Must've been the bayonet ban...I'm sure bayonet charges by drug dealers were just EPIDEMIC in the early '90's...

[slackmaster]

67. Nobody ever presented a compelling reason to renew the ban

The gun ban lobby had 10 full years in which to gather data to show that the AWB had a postive impact on public safety. When it came time to debate renewing the ban, they came up empty-handed.

At this point in the discussion, gun ban apologists typically retreat into a Conspiracy Theory explanation about how the NRA prevented anyone inside or outside of government from gathering the data needed to prove the AWB cut crime.

[kskiska]

27. WP: Violent Crime Rises In U.S.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006; A01

Violent crime in 2005 increased at the highest rate in 15 years, driven in large part by a surge of killings and other attacks in many Midwestern cities, the FBI reported yesterday.

The FBI's preliminary annual crime report showed an overall jump of 2.5 percent for violent offenses, including increases in homicide, robbery and assault. It was the first rise of any note since 2001, and rape was the only category in which the number of crimes declined.

(snip)

James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said the increase should serve as a "wake-up call in Washington." Lawmakers and the Bush administration have cut back many law enforcement programs popular during the 1990s.

"We have to worry about not just homeland security but also hometown security," Fox said. "High-crime areas have been relatively ignored over the last five years so we can deploy officers to fight terrorism."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200417.html

[NewJeffCT]

28. Interesting

and I thought those states in the Midwest were part of the moral-values crowd?

[Igel]

29. Get your unexpurgated version here ...

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2005preliminary/index.htm

Spreadsheets included for people that like graphing things in Excel (or other number-crunching software of your choice).

[Mika]

30. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Time to build even more privatized prisons.

Prisons are a republican base growth industry.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/math/incarceration_story_9-05.html

The prison population in the U.S. has reached its highest figure ever. In addition to creating budget problems for many states, the high number of prisoners has put a strain on family life and social services.

The U.S. prison population reached a staggering two million people in 2002, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The new figure marks a 2.6 percent increase over the 2001 inmate population.

"The U.S. now locks up its citizens at a rate 5-8 times that of the industrialized nations to which we are most similar, Canada and Western Europe," said Marc Mauer, Assistant Director of The Sentencing Project, a non-profit criminal justice research and advocacy group.

While Canada imprisons 116 people out of every 100,000 in the country, the U.S. locks up 702 people per 100,000.

[azurnoir]

31. I suspect there

are economic reasons too. Not to mention the gutting of social programs.

[politicat]

32. Hm. Hasn't it been about 25 years since the Midwest went anti-abortion

loony? That was 1991, right, when Randall Terry went batshit in Kansas? That was also about the time that abortion clinic numbers started declining, and about the time that welfare benefits started getting cut right and left. So lots of unwanted, unplanned children born to impoverished parents who then couldn't support them.

That's also about the time that meth and crack started booming, and states started taking children away from parents for drugs, and putting kids in group homes.

Sounds to me like law enforcement wants a bigger chunk of the pie. Economics proves that putting more money in law enforcement doesn't change the crime rate. It's almost entirely social factors.

[smtpgirl]

33. Yet again, a return to the Reagan years

any way to snuff out the poor, black and underprivledged.

I was hoping that we would not replay that bit of Reagan.

Haven't forgot the '80's.

[msongs]

34. there they go, bad mouthing bush and cheney again : -) nt

[salin]

69. Frist's solution: Flag Burning Amendment! Anti-Gay Marraige Amendment!

as if these are the most pressing concerns of Americans. :eyes:

[6000eliot]

35. Another Clinton legacy betrayed.

[Pachamama]

36. Another failure notch in the belt for George W's Presidency

Wow! Has there been anything good that this man has done for this country while occupying the White House? Seriously? Can anyone name one single good thing that has come out of his Presidency excluding the benefits and tax cuts for the very rich and helping his buddies get richer?

[maxrandb]

37. He'll just say he inherited rising crime from Clinton

Mark my words. Somehow, someway, they are going to blame this on Clinton.

Here's my prediction:

- Freakers will say its rising because Clinton got away with getting blow-job.
- Rush will say its rising because Clinton appointed "activist judges".
- Hannity will say its rising because Clinton wasn't impeached, thereby demonstrating that you could get away with criminal activity.
- James Dobson will say it was Clinton's and liberal Democrats acceptance of gays that led to the moral decay of our country.
- The NRA will say its because of the Clinton era and liberal Democrats war against guns.

If there is one thing you won't see, it will be the party that controls all branches of the government, and a majority of statehouse, taking any responsibility for this.

They are, afterall, the party of "personal responsibility" :sarcasm:

[-..__...]

41. That could be a tough one.

(not that they won't try anyways).

The Clinton administration provided funding to increase the number of police officers nationwide.

Bushs administration killed the funding.

[Roland99]

44. Clinton brought peace at home. Bush brings death & violence EVERYWHERE!

[sutz12]

45. This jumps out at me...

"Also, more people incarcerated in the '80s are now being released to their neighborhoods, and some are back to their old ways and old gangs," Fox said....

Our failed War on Drugs is coming back to haunt us.

[usregimechange]

48. moral values in government leads to violent crime ???

[MiniMe]

49. While the rich are trying to get rid of the middle class, crime will go up

Mostly because some people are getting desperate, and they have mouths to feed and bills to pay. Expect much more of this as the economy gets worse.

[billbuckhead]

50. I bet gun sales went up in correlation with the crime

I guess we'll have to wait for Dems to get in to find the real numbers.

[benEzra]

52. Pre-CISE-ly...

also look at the increasing numbers of people without health care, including mental health care.

[Tight_rope]

56. Well duh!....When you got a government full of violence and corruption

What do you expect? People are truly just following their useless leader.

[mvd]

57. Bush has sent lots of negative energy

Even more than other Repuke Presidents did. I see a longer trend happening, unfortunately.

[genieroze]

59. Bullshit, it's the economy stupid!

[benEzra]

66. That slogan could be making a comeback these days! (n/t)