Crime & Punishment -- USA Edition

[avatar! | 1,812]

51 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

According to other reports this POS has 2 bench warrants out - for guess what? - ASSAULT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

po

Who's surprised by this? I actually do follow trends and statistics involving crime, and there are many politicians and others that love to say "crime rates are falling dramatically!" -- but it's incredibly hard I've found to get into the essence of what they mean. For example, one study might say "violent crimes have decreased in NYC" -- from when? Many people like to go back to the 80s and 90s when murder was at an all-time high and NYC was famous called "Fear City" -- the pamphlet was actually from 1975--

https://archive.org/details/FearCity/mode/2up

Also, different people have different "ideas" of what "violent crime" actually means. You could argue that "violent crime" is. For instance, most of us would say "robbery" is a violent crime -- however the DA might (and depending on where you live probably already has) disagree with you. As @Tabonga just noted, a crazy guy broke a young girl's nose -- isn't that violent crime? But he was released without bail! So, is it still a violent crime? Yes of course! but, that's not necessarily how it goes into the statistics. Also, you can manipulate statistics and present them in a way that makes them seem far less frightening then they really are.

Just one example --

NYC serious crimes hit levels unseen in two decades last year even as Mayor Adams claims ‘crime is down’

https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/crime-was-in-fact-up-year-as-mayor-adams-tries-to-downplay-disorder/

Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that “crime is down” in the Big Apple.

For the second year in a row under Adams, overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report.

The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to when cases move to district attorneys, who decide whether to upgrade, downgrade or stick with the charge. For instance, a perp who punches someone might be charged with a misdemeanor at first, but if the victim’s condition later worsens, the prosecutor could boost it to a felony.

While Adams has been touting his success in his war against crime, citing a slight dip reported at the end of 2023, the rolling report shows that the early-year victory lap was premature. The number of seven major crimes in 2023 jumped to 127,111 once around 430 upgrades were accounted for, marking the highest totals since 2006 for the second year in a row, according to the police data.

[guitarzombie | 924]

I feel like this thread is turning into the avatar/tabona paranoia thread haha.  Do you live in NYC?

[Tabonga | 2,318]

1 hour ago, guitarzombie said:

I feel like this thread is turning into the avatar/tabona paranoia thread haha.  Do you live in NYC?

While I don't live in NYC that doesn't mean I shouldn't have empathy with those who suffer the consequences of such benighted policies (no matter where they live actually).  Do you ever comment on things you feel are wrong if they don't occur in your nearby environs?

And these type of things don't only occur in NYC - they occur pretty much nationwide - including in my metro area.  For whatever reason (rightly or wrongly) NYC seems to gather the most attention. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[guitarzombie | 924]

12 hours ago, Tabonga said:

While I don't live in NYC that doesn't mean I shouldn't have empathy with those who suffer the consequences of such benighted policies (no matter where they live actually).  Do you ever comment on things you feel are wrong if they don't occur in your nearby environs?

And these type of things don't only occur in NYC - they occur pretty much nationwide - including in my metro area.  For whatever reason (rightly or wrongly) NYC seems to gather the most attention.

No I dont.  I live near NYC and this kind of fear is way overblown.  Is it there, yea, but theres also 8 MILLION people that just LIVE in the area, let alone visit/work here out of state.  If we were a country we would be the 13th most populous state.  More people, more crimes.

[Tabonga | 2,318]

10 minutes ago, guitarzombie said:

No I dont.  I live near NYC and this kind of fear is way overblown.  Is it there, yea, but theres also 8 MILLION people that just LIVE in the area, let alone visit/work here out of state.  If we were a country we would be the 13th most populous state.  More people, more crimes.

 

So you are cool with anti-gay (or whatever) rhetoric as long as it is not in your immediate area.   Interesting take. I really really disagree with you here though.  

Would this be overblown if you were the nine year old girl or one of her parents? Statistics really are meaningless if you or one  yours is the victim.  

And soft pedaling of crime  occurs everywhere - not just NYC.  Our illustrious State Attorney General has this rather pathetic take on auto theft  - "“After someone commits a third or fourth car theft in, say, three months," Weiser said, "they should be kept in (jail) with a really high bond, because you got a sense they are going to get out they’re going to commit more crimes*. ...In Jeffco, that’s what they do.” Ignores the fact that that third of fourth car only represents the crimes that a car thief has been caught for - call me cynical bit IMHO it is doubtful that the thefts they have been caught for are the only ones they have committed.  And also ignores the fact that car thefts (for a variety of reasons) impact poor people much more severely than the  middle/upper classes.  This type of attitude is maybe one of the reasons why Colorado now leads the nation in per capita car thefts.   

*Ya think? - rocket science at work here. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

2 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

 

So you are cool with anti-gay (or whatever) rhetoric as long as it is not in your immediate area.   Interesting take. I really really disagree with you here though.  

Would this be overblown if you were the nine year old girl or one of her parents? Statistics really are meaningless if you or one  yours is the victim.  

And soft pedaling of crime  occurs everywhere - not just NYC.  Our illustrious State Attorney General has this rather pathetic take on auto theft  - "“After someone commits a third or fourth car theft in, say, three months," Weiser said, "they should be kept in (jail) with a really high bond, because you got a sense they are going to get out they’re going to commit more crimes*. ...In Jeffco, that’s what they do.” Ignores the fact that that third of fourth car only represents the crimes that a car thief has been caught for - call me cynical bit IMHO it is doubtful that the thefts they have been caught for are the only ones they have committed.  And also ignores the fact that car thefts (for a variety of reasons) impact poor people much more severely than the  middle/upper classes.  This type of attitude is maybe one of the reasons why Colorado now leads the nation in per capita car thefts.   

*Ya think? - rocket science at work here. 

Great job putting words in my mouth.  I did not mention social injustice, this is about crime and all these articles to pacify those fears.  My point is, this whole thread seems like you two wallowing in paranoia about things in places you don't live in.

[Tabonga | 2,318]

My original statement was things you considered wrong - not just crime (if I had meant just crime I would have stated that).  (As an aside do you believe letting assorted scofflaws/poltroons loose to recommit crimes wrong? I certainly do. But maybe that is just me.)

And which is worse - clobbering someone and causing severe injury (or maybe even killing them) or using an offensive term?  One apparently is not worthy of comment but the other is??? (Or maybe one should be hidden from the sight of day.)

in any event crime is a social injustice in that most street level crimes impact poor people (of whatever ethnic stripe) much more severely and more often. 

--------------------------------------------------

 

Not really - Avatar and I (and others) post all sorts of stuff here - not just NYC stories. And we often post odd/funny things also - although it is often hard to decide whether it belongs here or in oh the humanity.    

(Also when I post stuff like this story I am much more concerned with the impact on what is an otherwise an innocent victim - not really worried about getting mugged/assaulted.  I do keep in mind things like auto theft/converter theft since that is a real possibility where I live - I don't have the luxury of living in a gated community.)

 

Edited April 15 by Tabonga

[Tabonga | 2,318]

Hmmm - a modern day packrat - she traded something for the knife she took.....

https://news.yahoo.com/woman-broke-centre-county-garage-153147809.html

[avatar! | 1,812]

2 hours ago, guitarzombie said:

Great job putting words in my mouth.  I did not mention social injustice, this is about crime and all these articles to pacify those fears.  My point is, this whole thread seems like you two wallowing in paranoia about things in places you don't live in.

Crime and social justice are intertwined. That said, I don't think we're being "paranoid" -- and while neither of us live in NYC (although Boston is only a few hours away, and things that impact NYC to tend to trickle down to Boston) we all have friends/family living in NYC or the surrounding areas (such as Hoboken). Just like you, we certainly have every right to share our thoughts. I do think you make a good point, or good question, are we overblowing crime in NYC? Honestly, you can read articles that say yes, and articles that say no. One thing for certain, people are scared. And when people are scared, statistics don't really matter. Also, as @Tabonga noted, it's NYC so what happens there reverberates across the country.

[guitarzombie | 924]

Crime is bad, thats obvious.  But you're never gonna fully curtail it so its ALWAYS going to be an issue.  I just don't understand the fascination of posting about it, or overblowing things that are either not that out of control or outside your own environment that doesn't affect you directly.  You have a lot of people in one area, you have a lot of crime/homeless/mental illness and its impossible to curtail.  Most of those articles sell fear because people will click on them. 

Curious about homicides, this is what the NYTimes says "Shootings were down in all five boroughs. Last year, about 400 fewer people were shot than in 2022, when 1,566 were shot. There were 386 homicides in 2023, a 12 percent drop from 2022. But a troubling trend in the number of killings and shootings of people under 18 persisted."

Now if there were all of a sudden, 600 murders, you could say "MURDERS RISE 50%!"  Sounds scary, but when you're dealing with 8 million people, thats an incredibly small amount.

If someone is really upset over crime, be a cop or write a congressmen and get involved in politics.  Posting about it on a video game forum is a passive way of dealing with it and saying how 'bad' things are or are getting consistently seems paranoid to me.

[Tabonga | 2,318]

The "fascination" (I prefer the term interest) lies not in the fact that this crime occurred but that it was preventable.  Anyone seriously examine this clown's history should have been able to predict what was likely  to (and in fact did) happen.

You are way overblowing the intent here - it is basically a way to look at a trend (albeit a disturbing one) that is occurring,  There have been several reports of women being punched in the face by total strangers for no apparent reason. 

This is 'everything else" and in  a thread devoted to crime and punishment.  I don't where else it should go - unless you want to play nohearum (a relative of the infamous noseeum bug).  Although sweeping these things under the rug will likely come back to bite someone.

 

[spacepup | 2,404]

@guitarzombie some constructive feedback, if I may.

I understand where you are coming from, but this is exactly the reason we have an "Ignore this topic" button at the top - if there are specific threads that people have no interest in following or seeing updates, they can use that feature to not see all the updates.

Personally, I don't really follow this thread much and only monitor for moderation purposes.  Yes, it is sort of depressing and I already get a lot of news elsewhere so I don't really need it here.  For that reason, I mostly ignore this thread and don't click on most of the links.

The fact this is in everything else section and at least consolidated to one thread as opposed to multiple over time, is enough for me to deem it acceptable if people want to share/discuss it here.

For anyone who does not want to see this content, I legitimately do encourage you to Ignore this or any other topic that bothers you or you don't want to see.

 

[Tabonga | 2,318]

https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/04/16/man-with-5-foot-snake-attempts-rob-store-three-times-police-say/

[avatar! | 1,812]

2 hours ago, Tabonga said:

https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/04/16/man-with-5-foot-snake-attempts-rob-store-three-times-police-say/