CRIME: "The War on Gangs: Inside the feds' strategy to get hit men and enforcers off the streets," by Alex Kingsbury, U.S. News & World Report, 15 December 2008.
Interesting story on how big-city PDs fight gangs: the gangs' weakness for weapons is their Achilles' heel.
But here's what caught my eye: "Violent crime nationwide is hovering near its lowest levels in 30 years. But that's not the case in all of America's cities, where street gangs still account for an alarming share of death and destruction."
Of course, even there, most of the death you're talking about is inter-gang.
What drives all this competitive destruction? Our failed war on drugs.
By not medicalizing the problem and decriminalizing use, we provide black market opportunities for criminals.
Frankly, I'd rather see Big Pharma clean up.
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Comments (1)
Same old story. Gangs and other activities, give feeling of 'place' respect and relative economic and physical safety to chronic lower class guys.
Consumer based economies with so much junk advertising on who and what is important really distort human values.
Posted by Louis Heberlein | January 4, 2009 4:21 PM