| Violent Crime
Is Down: -Serious violent crime levels declining -Violent crime rates reach the lowest level ever recorded -Rape rates declining -Robbery rates reach lowest level recorded -Assault rates declining -Serious violent crimes committed by juveniles is down -Motor vehicle theft rates declined -Violent crime declining by age group -Longest national crime decline extends But, Prosecution (for nonviolent, personal crimes) Is Up: -More people are being sent to prison -Drug cases increasing at greatest rate -Expenditure on criminalizing individuals continues to increase Some Disagree (and blame gays, witches, atheists and communists): -Despite statistics, many still believe in an ever growing threat to children |
Is The World
A More Dangerous Place?
written June 4th, 2003 Do you feel that the world is becoming more and more dangerous? Does it seem as though threats to the world and to its children are increasing? Many people believe the scare tactics used so frequently today. We're constantly bombarded with what we should become paranoid over next. But, is the world really a more dangerous place? If you watch the John Walsh Show, the answer seems obvious: "Our children are in more danger today than ever before." it may seem that way at times, but it's not true. The world is a far safer place for children today. The only real threat to children comes from overprotective parents and adult zealots such as "child advocates". Far fewer children are kidnapped today than, say, fifty to a hundred years ago. There is far less sexual assault and rape to anyone compared with the time of our parents. So, why do we believe otherwise? What has increased tenfold is media coverage. When the priest "scandals" were brought into the media recently, the cases brought forward were all at least twenty to forty years old (most from the '60s or '70s). People often say how the internet opens a whole new world of dangers to children from "predators", yet we've instead seen a sudden and sharp decline in child abductions by strangers with the invention of the internet. The abduction of boys by anyone other than a family member (usually the mother) virtually came to a complete stop in the mid nineties. Excessive media attention can be very deceptive in other areas too. What was clearly the "cleanest" war in history (the 2003 war in Iraq) is still being criticized. Every incident is huge, every death catastrophic. We want less and less war and violence and that's what we're getting. Yet, it's more than just getting tired of things faster and things feeling more intense because of this constant bombardment of images and information. It's also that we are more sensitive and emotional today. There's been a global rise in estrogen, effecting Caucasians the most. Many people blame it on pesticides and environmental changes, but, whatever the case, our current sensitivity and our current media coverage have taken us to a new level of thinking: prevention. Instead of arresting criminals, we now arrest people before they have the chance to commit a crime and become a criminal. Is the world a safer place because of it? Physically, yes. But, preventing physical violence comes at the cost of personal freedom and privacy. To shelter their kids, parents watch them constantly and interrogate them. The same goes for the government and its citizens. We are indeed safer from physical assault from people outside the government and law enforcement because of laws like the "Patriot Act", but we are learning that the power to protect people wields dangers of its own. Power is easily misused. To truly protect us, the government must have the power to detain suspects indefinitely and to use racial and background profiling. In essence, the more of us that are made into criminals and prisoners, the safer the rest of us are. I'll let you decide if it's worth it. Do you feel safer? |
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About the side-bar: Joey insists that I list the sources for some of my statements. According to him, many people reading my thoughts may think I'm just a biased nut. But, aren't we all?