Zonie63
Posts: 2826
Joined: 4/25/2011
From: The Old Pueblo
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: tweakabelle
If this analysis has merit, and I believe it does, then the obvious answer is to dismantle the ghetto system,which acts as a training ground and location for much of the US's violent crime. That entails racially integrated suburbs, schools, social institutions etc - the kinds of things that the so-called ‘White Flight’ phenomenon sought to avoid.
It won’t be cheap. But will thousands dying annually and millions incarcerated can the US afford not to do it?
That's the main problem. It won't be cheap and it would probably involve challenging a number of sacred cows which will never be challenged by either major party. I don't think the ghetto system will be dismantled very easily, since there are too many people who benefit from the status quo.
The stats show that violent crime is going down, as others have mentioned, but I haven't found any firm consensus as to why that might be. Crime spiked during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, but started to go down in the 1990s and 2000s. Perhaps it was due to a society getting fed up with crime and imposing more security measures for their own safety. We started seeing neighborhood watch programs start up, bars on windows, car alarms, surveillance cameras, shoplifting detectors, gated communities, security guards everywhere.
The public clamored for more cops, tougher courts, stiffer sentencing guidelines (e.g. "three strikes" rule), and a higher incarceration rate. The execution rate also started to go up during the 1980s and 90s. A lot of juvenile delinquents were "scared straight" or put into boot camps so that they might shape up. Schools installed metal detectors, hired guards. There was also gang outreach, more social workers, and honest attempts to try to steer would-be criminals and delinquents to stay in school and better their lives.
I think society has tried to deal with the problem to some extent, but there's only so much that the PTB want to do. At this point, there's also a question whether they can even afford to keep doing what they've been doing.
In all frankness, I don't think the powers that be truly care about the thousands who die annually or the millions who are incarcerated. Public apathy is probably the biggest problem we face, since a lot of people just plain don't care about anyone but themselves. People want guns because they don't think the police or the government are either able or willing to protect them. They can't count on their neighbors anymore.
Those who feel alienated, disaffected, and don't think they can count on anyone but themselves - they can easily cross the line into criminality. They already see the rich and powerful as criminals already, so they believe they're just grabbing their fair share. They don't believe they'll be treated justly or fairly by the system (and they're probably because most of the public doesn't give a shit), so they're just going to go for what they can get and maybe they might get away with it. They don't give a shit either - and they don't have anything to lose. So, that's what society is up against, but I think most people are okay with it just as long as it doesn't affect them and doesn't happen in their backyards.
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RE: Cops and Guns - 
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