Oldheads: how did y'all survive 1991???

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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.

:mindblown:Did y'all live in fear every time you stepped outside?
Kindergarten was rough, B.

Had to fight off some preschoolers tryna jump me by the sandbox. Knocked em upside the head with my bag of Chili Cheese Fritos.

But frfr, early 90s was no joke. The younger Gen X (70s babies) were straight lunatics. Millenials didn't get that lead tap water/asbestos stimulus package so we were wayyy more mellow.
 

shopthatwrecks

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jamicans came to texas and set up shop in dallas

87-93







this nikka said didnt last long ... them boys had dallas heads on a swivel..

when they got rid of em alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll apartments were shut down n demolished

even john wiley price detail shop on lancaster
 

Hijo de luna

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We moved from Little Rock to Tulsa in the late 80's. Came back to Little Rock around 1993. It was very much like when Mr. Clark left East Side High and returned. We moved back to the epicenter of 'Bangin in Little Rock'. We live on 27th street- 25th street was a war zone. Lost a few young classmates to banging. But overall, my childhood was good. We still rode bikes everywhere without a care. If you weren't bangin or stangin, nobody really fukked with you.
 

dora_da_destroyer

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Kindergarten was rough, B.

Had to fight off some preschoolers tryna jump me by the sandbox. Knocked em upside the head with my bag of Chili Cheese Fritos.

But frfr, early 90s was no joke. The younger Gen X (70s babies) were straight lunatics. Millenials didn't get that lead tap water/asbestos stimulus package so we were wayyy more mellow.
Disagree. There was a spike in crime as a millennials came of age in the early 00’s. That was crack babies hitting their teens/early 20’s + X was big and had people crashing out. I actually believe all of our peaks in violence/crime tend to occur as a new generation started to come of age. Like right now, the spike in property crime coincides with gen z coming of age.
 
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Rakpo98

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I was 9 years old, and living in suburban DC. My Dad worked for the federal govt at the time, so his office was in the L'Enfant Plaza area of DC. If you're from DC area, I don't have to tell you how active and crazy DC was around this time. People who worked in DC used to clear out of town as soon as it hit 5:00PM. There was no real night life, and the city was active with crime almost everywhere. '91 might have been the worst year for that in DC, because I remember my Dad and Uncles (who also worked in DC) would give my older cousins warnings about going into DC for ANY reason (other than school field trips). My cousins weren't allowed to go into DC until damn near 1996 or 97 :mjlol:
 
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