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Carlos Osorio / AP
Detroit Interim Police Chief Chester Logan answers a question as Mayor Dave Bing looks on during a news conference in Detroit on Thursday.
The homicide rate in the city of Detroit continued a grim upward trend in 2012, hitting its highest peak in nearly two decades, officials said Thursday.
A dwindling population -- 706,585 people in 2011, according to the U.S. Census estimate -- and the rise in homicides combined to make Detroit’s murder rate among the highest in the nation, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Police Chief Chester Logan announced at a press conference.
“We’ve just lost respect for each other; we’ve lost respect for life,” Bing said. “I don’t want to say that you can forget about this generation or the generation before us, but if we’re going to solve the problem, we’ve got to get into the heads and the minds and the hearts of our young people, and it’s going to take all of us to do that.”
Detroit’s total of 411 homicides in 2012, up from 377 the previous year, includes 386 criminal homicides and 25 “justifiable homicides” that included three shootings by police, according to numbers released by the city. The number of criminal homicides increased 12 percent from 344 in 2011. The total in 2010 was 308.
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Even as violent crime rates in the U.S. fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2011, the homicide rate in Detroit rose to a level higher than nearly 40 years ago when the city was known as the Murder Capital, the Detroit News reported. The same day the city's official crime statistics were announced, a Detroit woman was charged with fatally stabbing her 8-year-old daughter and a cab driver was killed in a double shooting on the city’s northwest side.
“I think the message that we want our citizens to understand is that we need them. We need them to help us. I just don’t believe that our police department should have the total responsibility for safety in the city," Bing said. "There are, as the chief said, he can have an additional thousand cops, but there are things that are happening in homes and families in the communities and the neighborhoods that whether a cop was there or not is not going to stop the crime.”
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Homicides have declined nationwide for years, most notably in New York, where in 2012 there were 414 homicides and a rate of one per 19,915 people.
New Orleans reported a small drop from 199 to 193 in 2012. With a population 360,740, the rate was one per 1,869 residents.
In Washington, D.C., there were 88 homicides in 2012, the lowest total since 1961. With a population of 617,966, that puts the rate at one per 7,023 people.
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Elsewhere across the country, homicide rates made only slight jumps compared to Detroit.
- In Los Angeles, the homicide rate increased from 291 to 294 last year, with a population of nearly 3.8 million.
- The homicide rate in Chicago went up nearly 17 percent in 2012, topping 500 for the first time in four years. Last year’s total was 505, up from 433 in 2011.
- Homicides in Cleveland, Ohio, spiked in 2012 with 97 and a rate of one per 4,060 people.
- Philadelphia homicides increased from 324 to 331 in 2012. With a population of 1.54 million, that amounts to one per 4,642.
- In St. Louis, which has a population of 318,169 people, the rate stayed the same at between 2011 and 2012 at one per 2,815 people. There were 113 homicides last year, well below the average of 141 for the five previous years.
Detroit Police Chief Logan said the criminal activity in the city comes from a small minority of the city's population.
"These aren't the average citizens we are talking about," Logan said. "Many of these people are involved in nefarious walks of life, and there's a difference between a law-abiding citizen who shoots a gun and a criminal or a thug who's out there using one."
Still, Mayor Bing offered messages of hope for the city.
“We can’t give up, we can’t give in, and we’ve really got to let the small percentage of our population that’s creating havoc in our city know that we’re not going to continue to accept it and all of us need to get involved and help each other solve the problem,” Bing said.
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Leave a Comment:
This is what happens when people lose respect for themselves because they don't support themselves. This is the by-product of a welfare state that tells people they are not responsible for themselves and that anyone doing better than them are not entitled to their property.
Commie/progressive cesspool.
Hey thats giving cesspools a bad rap. They at least serve a purpose.
Are you people out of you f-ing mind, the problem with Detroit isn't anything but the people that live there, in a very nice way that's what the Chief and Mayor are trying to say. You have a whole population of single parent households, that have no idea how to raise a child, this is the element that has taken over the city,throwing money at it or blaming the union is the most asinine thing I've ever heard. Start at the root of the problem. Stop popping baby's out just for welfare. Men in Detroit have numerous children and never see them after there born leave alone support them. They grow up thinking drugs stealing and killing is there way of life, whats even worse is now this attitude has been brought to the suburbs the whole state is a Democratic garbage can and the people there don't have the tools to educate there kids on what life is really supposed to be like,start teaching parenting skills and birth control, it also wouldn't hurt to have God in there hearts, but this is probably asking way to much
This the future Obama and the Democrats have planned for us as a nation.
At last someone tells it exactly as it is.
Silly question, probably! BUT WHY NOT BLAME THE CRIMINALS FOR THE KILLINGS? (That deep-seated mentality) Instead of manufacturing EXCUSES for these crimes?)
Chicago is doing a damned good job of killing people. Ditto Camden, NJ; Philadelphia, PA -- and just about EVERY city with a large Black population.
Does anyone stop to think about many BILLIONS of dollars have been sunk into social programs of various kinds over the last 65 years -- trying to stop urban violence? Money seemingly poured into a bottom-less pit but without producing any measurable results. With predictably, more billions to be thrown at the urban violence program without real effect. I mean other than liberals manufacturing yet more excuses for the criminal element.
The problem is not guns...if it was guns we'd all be dead by now...
The problem is not the skin color...all the people in America could be dyed white and no change...
The problem is not poverty...the poor will always be a percentage of any population...
The problem is the environment...the government uses tax money to build ghettoes for the poor...the government uses tax money to build large schools for the children 5 - 18 years of age...the government builds prisons for "criminals"...the problem is the environment that these government programs create...
In the ghettoes the children have role models of gangs of thugs, welfare queens and kings, drug dealers with fancy cars, thieves that play basketball on public courts and preachers like Jeremiah Wright...what kind of morality do you expect the children to assimilate as they grow up...
In the schools the children have role models from the student population, role models from the communities they live in and organizations they participate in...but the students spend a large percentage of their time imitating the role models in the student body of the schools...a percentage of these children leave the school system with the mentality of thieves and murderers...
In the prisons the first timers are educated by the prison population to be "hardened criminals"...
The answers are too simple to be implemented...start building housing for the poor in units that hold no more than 8 families...scatter the poor housing units among the middle class housing...no housing for the poor should be closer to another housing for the poor than a 1/4 mile of so...build smaller schools for k-8 students in the neighborhoods...build smaller schools for 9-10 students in the neighborhoods...build smaller schools for 11-12 students in the neighborhoods...change the prisons to single occupant cells...let 1/12th of the prison population mingle together for 2 hours each day...as 1/12th goes back into their cells allow a second 1/12th to mingle for 2 hours...on a daily basis select the 1/12ths of the population by random selection thus getting a different group every day...
Too simple to actually be used.
Detroit Police Chief Logan is right, a minority is responsible for most the trouble, it was brave of him to point that out.
The title of this article "We've Lost Respect for Life" is also reflected in the tone of many of these comments. I believe the only real remedy to societies' problems is in having the evil in our hearts replaced with the love of God. That is possible only by confessing our sins and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior.
G -
There is no evil in a heart...it is a blood pumping muscle...there is no love in a heart...there have been heart transplants and the person goes right along being whatever they were before the transplant...
People don't have sins...people just do what they do...the "sin" is in the mind of the people that call whatever it is they call a sin a sin...
I've heard a lot about god and jesus from god and jesus freaks but I ain't never heard nothing about the god and jesus freaks from god or jesus...
This scam has had 2,000 years to pan out...it hasn't panned out...and therefore it's just a scam by priest and preachers to fill their gut and their wallet...
I believe in God and I have love in my heart. It's not the love that a person can touch with their hand, or see when one's body is being cut open. It's the type of love that makes you want to continue doing good for your neighbor throughout your entire life on earth. Having respect for yourself and others. It makes you want to do and say good things. These people, young and old, are so consumed in blaming others for their downfall or jealous of the ones who are willing and able to WORK job(s) to support themselves and their family. And do it legitmately! Some want money fast, fast, and fast only to realized that this fast money, such as filing suit, stealing, robbing, killing, will come back at them with a mighty vengenance. Then they don't want to deal with the consequences and decide to take the easy way out and kill themselves and others in the process. Cowards are what they are! Parents, it's time to take back your children and teach them what is good and right and to teach them to take responsibility for their actions, good or bad. Teach them that despite what the media say, education is the key for a promient life on earth. They have to work hard to achieve great things!!
Pigressive Government ruined black families and schools and culture: now reap the whirlwind of misery and corpses.
Solution? There is no solution. These cities with soaring murder rates are also majority b l a c k cities, and the great percentage of crimes are perpetrated by these same people. Pour a trillion dollars of welfare into each of these cities and you'd still get the same result.
Looks like Detroit's anti-gun laws have left the people defenseless and they're opting for moving out thus leaving behind those who can't along with the criminal element. With the anti-gun agenda in play those 25 justifiable homicides will not live long enough to appreciate their survival if they don't leave as well. This is what socialist dictatorship looks like. When governments play god they always end up with an imprisoned and defenseless people. More lambs for the slaughter. Worship the government god and enjoy your dictatorship, for as long as you can that is.
Governments, the world over in years past/history only wanted gun control, so they could control the population and not fear retaliation by firearms. It has nothing to do with crime, as history also shows,that those places where gun control is the strictist criminals can still get them and use them on those that are unarmed. If these politicians want to see a drop in crime/murder they will have to start executing those that do not commit suicide during their crime spree. Stop worrying about it being cruel and unusual punishment, or that the murdered is to obese, etc, etc ( Did the murderer worry about those things when he killed his victim/s ?) Politicians need to go after the criminal and not the law abiding/honest gun owners of the USA. But I do not believe they will do so, as they are so far out of touch with the American public and only do what they want and what is good for themselves.
Also the courts and politicians are more concerned with gay rights, debauchery and immoral people rights than taking out the criminals, that murder, with execution/capital punishment. As long the USA keeps going down the immoral road, like Sodom and Gomorrah did, nothing will change for the better, and life will be a cheap commodity for a lot of criminals and that they of person.
Popular culture worships gay marriage and broken, dysfunctional families. You can see it on television any night of the week. And the last group that can be safely ridiculed by anybody is white men. That's the nation we've become.
A letter from one of the Good Guys...
HMMMMMMMM..... *no-JOBS! = *no-living-wages! = *no-RESPECT-FOR-OTHERS-HUMAN-RIGHTS! = *no-GOVERNMENT-THAT-GIVES-A-DAMNED-ABOUT-THE-PEOPLE! = *'G O D' booted from schools & whitehouse! = *no-PARENTAL-RIGHTS! = *illegal-drugs-rule! = *DISARM-AMERICANS! = **"B U T ~ SMOKING ~ I S ~ THE ~ PROBLEM"?????
'we-the-people' >>>>> have a severe case of >>> HEADS~IN~BUTTS~DISEASE~TODAY!
BEST FIXUM PDQ, thjink??........... DISABLE ALL POLITICAL PARTYS ASAP, yup.
Just look at what race is producing the majority of crime in Detroit.It's black.Isn't it strange that this fact and statistic is considered racism ?
As well as the concept that trying to use capital punishment on one of the murderers is considered racism? I wish some of their victims were alive to voice their opinion!!
Chicago and Detroit deaths...."Just bumps in the road"
"lost respect for life" Yes. It started when child murder became accepted practice. If we are willing to allow the killing of unborn children, then we are so depraved we will allow anything.
Anybody know the year of the first violent video games. And I don't mean Mario Bros. My guess would be that it would coincide with other violent crime statistics. Especially involving young adults and juveniles...
Doesn't Michigan require gun safety courses and guns be registered? 30 years ago, you had to jump thru hoops and take safety courses to get handguns.....and your info was logged when buying handgun ammo.....A couple years ago I sent my sister a collectable handgun (thru legal channels) and it had to be registered with the local authorities (who by the way took a $2000 Colt to the range and ruined it...Thanks Troy Cops!)
Did things change? Or is it just criminals doing what criminals do... getting guns illegally and ............using them illegally? (I think the terms "criminal" and "illegally" usually preclude those who follow the rules right?)
All of you are missing the root problem: children born to single women who are unable financially or emotionally able to raise a child. Over 80% of black children are born out of wedlock, no dad around to encourage and direct them. Plus race relations and our economy have been put back 30 years by this President.
A boy born in a home with no father figure is 35times more likely to end up in prison. No job, no respect, no understanding of right & wrong, no accounability, = very serious problems at 17
workingpoor-2370498 - "Until there is employment available and business starts paying real wages that someone can raise their standard of living on, the problem is unsolvable."
A union man eh?
Take a look good hard look at not only Detroit but the entire state of Michigan and tell me exactly how the unions helped them? The fact of the matter is that unions practically destroyed both. Now take a good look at the demographics of the cities listed in the article and tell me who is doing the overwhelming majority of the shooting. You are in fact deluding yourself if you truly believe what you're asserting in your comment. Even the police chief in the article said what should be obvious to most as an essential part of the problem. There is little or no respect for human life any more. Simply providing more and better paying jobs will not change that.
Just toss another $50 billion into more social problems in Detroit and other cities with large Black populations. Like we've been doing since 1950 or thereabouts. That'll cure the crime problem [NOT!].
The killings do happen and will continue to happen -- whether Washington wastes a $1,000.00 or a BILLION DOLLARS! It's the people, Stoopid!
But fear not. For every gang killing by people who glorify criminals and violence, trust me, you'll find liberals manufacturing yet more excuses for them.
Lost respect for life? Yes indeed with the roots in the Roe/Wade decision of 1973! We kill 3,500 babies a day in this nation, and we can make all the excuses and justification we wish, nothing can change that. Much of it is simply due to personal "choice" and personal convenience. The ajoined reason is the greed that cost us our industrial base, and political leaders unwilling to address the issue of JOBS. America has lost its soul as it lost its conviction of what is right and wrong. May God help us.
"We" have lost respect for life? No. The leftists have. By disarming the citizens they have once again proven that gun control equals chaos, more government control, and more deaths of civilians. It happens, has happened in every country "gun control" has ever been promoted. I believe this is by in tent, not stupidity, nor unintended consequences. The solution is obvious. Concealed carry. More freedom, not less. For evidence, look at how low the violent crime and murder rates are in places like Florida, Virginia, Arizona, VERMONT (which has never had ANY restrictions on concealed carry, nor licensing for same). The opposite applies in Chicago and Detroit and DC and NYC. Take away the tools people need to defend themselves, violent predators - then government - will rule. In the case of government, with an iron hand. Guns Save Life.
Abortion is a lost respect for life. Hypocrites