This is a Time magazine article I found from January 1992
Crime: The Deadliest Year Yet
Here's a category in which the U.S. still leads the world: homicides, with roughly 25,000 in 1991
Why do Americans kill one another in such appalling numbers? By the time police add up the final tally, 1991 will be the bloodiest year in U.S. history: as many as 25,000 murders, compared with last year's record of 23,440. The U.S. homicide rate -- by far the highest in the Western world -- may average about 10 killings for every 100,000 citizens, vs. 1.3 in Japan and 5.5 in Britain. Every 22 minutes, another American is shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled to death.
No place seems exempt from the slaughter. New homicide records have been set in cities as large as Dallas (501) and Washington (489) and as small as Anchorage (26) and San Antonio (211). More people are being killed by strangers. Murder is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace. The easy availability of firearms means that a single flash of anger can lead to another grim statistic, and sociologists fear that people thrown out of work in the recession will take their anger out on their former bosses and co- workers or families. The Federal Centers for Disease Control, whose job is to investigate outbreaks of disease, now considers murder an epidemic.
Worst of all, an increasing number of murders are going unsolved. Twenty- five years ago, 9 out of 10 murderers were tracked down and brought to justice. Now the rate is less than 7 out of 10. Police complain that they have so many killings to investigate that they must concentrate on the simplest cases and put more complex slayings on the back burner. The consequences can be grievous. FBI behavioral-science experts suspect that at least one serial killer contributed repeatedly to New York City's 1991 death toll of more than 2,200. But the suspect -- or suspects -- remains at large because detectives have little time to compare notes.
One alarming factor is the emergence of a new breed of teenage killers who seem to have lost all respect for human life. The idea of having a knife or a , gun has moved beyond the drug subculture to infect a large segment of all young people. A CDC study found that 1 out of 5 high school students enters the classroom carrying a gun, knife or club.
Many of the rash killings are truly senseless. Last week a 14-year-old Brooklyn girl was charged with stabbing her 13-year-old boyfriend to death simply because he wanted to break up with her. In September a 23-year-old Chicago woman was convicted of the drive-by shooting of a teenage boy at a fast-food restaurant. Reason: he was wearing the colors of a rival gang. Her two-month-old twin daughters were sitting in the backseat of her car when she pulled the trigger.
That case has crystallized the fears of law-enforcement officials that one generation, already hopelessly inured to violence, may be handing down its bloodthirsty values to the young. The lock-'em-up approach to law enforcement exemplified by tough mandatory-sentencing laws adopted by the federal and most state governments over the past decade has not slowed the mayhem. In fact, some experts believe it may actually strengthen the violent code of behavior that prevails among many urban teenage males. "It is now a rite of passage that you must go to prison on at least a misdemeanor," says Jerome Miller of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in the Washington area. "What you see on the street is the ethics of a maximum-security prison."
Faced with the failure of strict enforcement alone to curb the slaughter, many experts have concluded that new, long-term prevention efforts are needed as early as the fourth grade to sensitize children to the effects of violence. In recent years, several cities have created programs to reach such troubled children. For example, under the Children First program inaugurated by Washington Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly last November, needy children will receive intensive monitoring and health care from birth through age 15. Junior high school students will be targeted by teachers who will try to arm the children with positive values, lead parental support groups and set up school recreational programs. A separate initiative would remove antisocial students from regular classrooms and provide psychological counseling to prevent them from turning violent. In Texas a novel program of group therapy at the Giddings State Home and School is aimed at instilling the concept of remorse in teen criminals. Only two of the 85 serious offenders who completed the sessions have got into trouble again.
- Such ambitious efforts might eventually slow the killings, assuming they are adequately funded and vigorously implemented. The benefits cannot come too soon.As 1991 faded into history, gunfire rang through the streets of Washington as residents discharged their guns into the sky to hail the new year. Some turned their guns on neighbors, and three people were killed when their vehicles were sprayed by bullets.
Did y'all live in fear every time you stepped outside?
Crime: The Deadliest Year Yet
Here's a category in which the U.S. still leads the world: homicides, with roughly 25,000 in 1991
Why do Americans kill one another in such appalling numbers? By the time police add up the final tally, 1991 will be the bloodiest year in U.S. history: as many as 25,000 murders, compared with last year's record of 23,440. The U.S. homicide rate -- by far the highest in the Western world -- may average about 10 killings for every 100,000 citizens, vs. 1.3 in Japan and 5.5 in Britain. Every 22 minutes, another American is shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled to death.
No place seems exempt from the slaughter. New homicide records have been set in cities as large as Dallas (501) and Washington (489) and as small as Anchorage (26) and San Antonio (211). More people are being killed by strangers. Murder is the leading cause of death for women in the workplace. The easy availability of firearms means that a single flash of anger can lead to another grim statistic, and sociologists fear that people thrown out of work in the recession will take their anger out on their former bosses and co- workers or families. The Federal Centers for Disease Control, whose job is to investigate outbreaks of disease, now considers murder an epidemic.
Worst of all, an increasing number of murders are going unsolved. Twenty- five years ago, 9 out of 10 murderers were tracked down and brought to justice. Now the rate is less than 7 out of 10. Police complain that they have so many killings to investigate that they must concentrate on the simplest cases and put more complex slayings on the back burner. The consequences can be grievous. FBI behavioral-science experts suspect that at least one serial killer contributed repeatedly to New York City's 1991 death toll of more than 2,200. But the suspect -- or suspects -- remains at large because detectives have little time to compare notes.
One alarming factor is the emergence of a new breed of teenage killers who seem to have lost all respect for human life. The idea of having a knife or a , gun has moved beyond the drug subculture to infect a large segment of all young people. A CDC study found that 1 out of 5 high school students enters the classroom carrying a gun, knife or club.
Many of the rash killings are truly senseless. Last week a 14-year-old Brooklyn girl was charged with stabbing her 13-year-old boyfriend to death simply because he wanted to break up with her. In September a 23-year-old Chicago woman was convicted of the drive-by shooting of a teenage boy at a fast-food restaurant. Reason: he was wearing the colors of a rival gang. Her two-month-old twin daughters were sitting in the backseat of her car when she pulled the trigger.
That case has crystallized the fears of law-enforcement officials that one generation, already hopelessly inured to violence, may be handing down its bloodthirsty values to the young. The lock-'em-up approach to law enforcement exemplified by tough mandatory-sentencing laws adopted by the federal and most state governments over the past decade has not slowed the mayhem. In fact, some experts believe it may actually strengthen the violent code of behavior that prevails among many urban teenage males. "It is now a rite of passage that you must go to prison on at least a misdemeanor," says Jerome Miller of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in the Washington area. "What you see on the street is the ethics of a maximum-security prison."
Faced with the failure of strict enforcement alone to curb the slaughter, many experts have concluded that new, long-term prevention efforts are needed as early as the fourth grade to sensitize children to the effects of violence. In recent years, several cities have created programs to reach such troubled children. For example, under the Children First program inaugurated by Washington Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly last November, needy children will receive intensive monitoring and health care from birth through age 15. Junior high school students will be targeted by teachers who will try to arm the children with positive values, lead parental support groups and set up school recreational programs. A separate initiative would remove antisocial students from regular classrooms and provide psychological counseling to prevent them from turning violent. In Texas a novel program of group therapy at the Giddings State Home and School is aimed at instilling the concept of remorse in teen criminals. Only two of the 85 serious offenders who completed the sessions have got into trouble again.
- Such ambitious efforts might eventually slow the killings, assuming they are adequately funded and vigorously implemented. The benefits cannot come too soon.As 1991 faded into history, gunfire rang through the streets of Washington as residents discharged their guns into the sky to hail the new year. Some turned their guns on neighbors, and three people were killed when their vehicles were sprayed by bullets.
Did y'all live in fear every time you stepped outside?
