“Major American cities saw a 33% increase in homicides in 2020, as a pandemic swept across the country”; and a Pew Research poll shows that fewer Americans believe crime is up in their own communities. Property crime is typically more common than violent crime, yet aggravated assaults, including racially-driven attacks, are up over the last couple years. Larceny/theft leads the property crimes, with burglary, and motor-vehicle theft numbers following; aggravated assaults & domestic-violence lead the violent crimes, above robbery, rape, murder/manslaughter. Crime rates in America had decreased between 1993 and 2019, but the rates have increased sharply for all forms of crime in the last two years. Experts cite possible reasons for the increases to: a “bad economy, greater distrust in police, leading to more unchecked violence, huge increases in gun purchases in the last year, boredom & social displacement, physical-distancing leading people to cause more trouble”. Though those could be factors in why crime rates are up, it doesn’t feel like it gets to the root of the problems. Substance-abuse reflects a soul-affliction that hurts the users and everyone around them. Depression, feelings of helplessness against the pandemic & other life-changing issues, anger, hostility, unemployment, poverty, trauma, heartbreak factor in. Being abused, experiencing physical & sexual-trauma & heartbreak at a tender age, sometimes sets us on alternate paths. Research finds that access to healthcare, physical, mental & emotional reduces crime, according to the Brookings Institute. Counseling, especially for younger offenders, coming out of troubled-home environments can be very helpful in reducing or deterring crime. Social Disorganization Theory, Anomie Theory, Labeling Theory & Social Process Theories might help explain some of these societal problems.
If you take the local paper, you can see for yourselves that in our small community, crime of all types have been on the rise. Gun- violence, domestic-violence, murders, assaults, thefts, drugs; we have it all. The pandemic & political differences seem to have brought out the worst in many folks. Assaults of all kinds have risen dramatically; it’s actually rather shocking and dismaying. Watching the news yesterday, I learned that “bad behavior on airplanes is now at a sky-high”, with passengers refusing to wear masks, assaulting crew-members and other passengers, breaking into verbal & physical fights, excessive-drinking; one passenger recently tried to open an emergency-door, during a flight! Airlines are fighting back, with arrests, $35,000 fines, and some unruly passengers may receive lifetime bans on flying their airlines. Our society is fraying, and American carnage has increased.
Trish Forsyth Voss
May 11 2021
Crime on the rise in USA
“Major American cities saw a 33% increase in homicides in 2020, as a pandemic swept across the country”; and a Pew Research poll shows that fewer Americans believe crime is up in their own communities. Property crime is typically more common than violent crime, yet aggravated assaults, including racially-driven attacks, are up over the last couple years. Larceny/theft leads the property crimes, with burglary, and motor-vehicle theft numbers following; aggravated assaults & domestic-violence lead the violent crimes, above robbery, rape, murder/manslaughter. Crime rates in America had decreased between 1993 and 2019, but the rates have increased sharply for all forms of crime in the last two years. Experts cite possible reasons for the increases to: a “bad economy, greater distrust in police, leading to more unchecked violence, huge increases in gun purchases in the last year, boredom & social displacement, physical-distancing leading people to cause more trouble”. Though those could be factors in why crime rates are up, it doesn’t feel like it gets to the root of the problems. Substance-abuse reflects a soul-affliction that hurts the users and everyone around them. Depression, feelings of helplessness against the pandemic & other life-changing issues, anger, hostility, unemployment, poverty, trauma, heartbreak factor in. Being abused, experiencing physical & sexual-trauma & heartbreak at a tender age, sometimes sets us on alternate paths. Research finds that access to healthcare, physical, mental & emotional reduces crime, according to the Brookings Institute. Counseling, especially for younger offenders, coming out of troubled-home environments can be very helpful in reducing or deterring crime. Social Disorganization Theory, Anomie Theory, Labeling Theory & Social Process Theories might help explain some of these societal problems.
If you take the local paper, you can see for yourselves that in our small community, crime of all types have been on the rise. Gun- violence, domestic-violence, murders, assaults, thefts, drugs; we have it all. The pandemic & political differences seem to have brought out the worst in many folks. Assaults of all kinds have risen dramatically; it’s actually rather shocking and dismaying. Watching the news yesterday, I learned that “bad behavior on airplanes is now at a sky-high”, with passengers refusing to wear masks, assaulting crew-members and other passengers, breaking into verbal & physical fights, excessive-drinking; one passenger recently tried to open an emergency-door, during a flight! Airlines are fighting back, with arrests, $35,000 fines, and some unruly passengers may receive lifetime bans on flying their airlines. Our society is fraying, and American carnage has increased.
Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Uncategorized 0