Philadelphia- Highest Murder Rate in USA

[StatesRights]

No Suprise Here. (Good thing the population grew to accomodate the murder rate!)
Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, according to stats provided by each city's police department. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved.

Kill-adelphia: Yet again, city tops list of homicide rates | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/30/2011

[MarketStEl]

Two words that would put a dent in that number:

Legalize it.

A lot of those murders stem from turf battles among drug dealers. Think rum-runners during Prohibition. We keep repeating our past mistakes.

[CHIOSSO]

We’re Number One! We’re Number One! We’re Number One!

[BarryG]

Anyone have an info about externalities that may have contributed? I'm wondering if thinks like the big drug bust on 4th St might have heated up turf wars, things that like.

[O.H. Lee]

Two words that would put a dent in that number:

Legalize it.

A lot of those murders stem from turf battles among drug dealers. Think rum-runners during Prohibition. We keep repeating our past mistakes.

Legalize what? Crack, Pot, Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, Oxys? We should flush society totally down the toilet for the possibility that some homicidal maniacs stop shootiing at each other?

[Hospitalitygirl]

No Suprise Here. (Good thing the population grew to accomodate the murder rate!)
Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, according to stats provided by each city's police department. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved.

Kill-adelphia: Yet again, city tops list of homicide rates | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/30/2011

There is already a thread dealing with this year's murder rate, and which you've already commented in so you know that. Did posting this thread make you feel better about yourself? Why even come here any more when you are so happily ensconced in your happy little hamlet? You are another one of those wads of goo who insist on seeing only the bad here to feel better about yourself.

GTFO.

[MarketStEl]

Legalize what? Crack, Pot, Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, Oxys? We should flush society totally down the toilet for the possibility that some homicidal maniacs stop shootiing at each other?

Nos. 2 and 3 on that list. (By extension, it will make #1 easier to find too, but that's collateral damage.)

The rest should stay as they are. The last two aren't really the subject of gun battles on the streets anyway.

[BadRomance]

We’re Number One! We’re Number One! We’re Number One!

Do we get a parade??

[eldondre]

Legalize what? Crack, Pot, Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, Oxys? We should flush society totally down the toilet for the possibility that some homicidal maniacs stop shootiing at each other?

youve got it all backwards. youre flushibg society down the toilet by makibg it illegal...they arent maniacs theure in an illegal business. the same thing happened in the 20's but that lesson seems lost on you

[O.H. Lee]

Comparing prohibition to legalizing drugs is not apples to apples. I am sure there is more to the lessons of the '20's.

There is more to drug use/abuse than the gun shooting dealers.

While some may think it will stop the killings and turf battles I am not so sure.

But I am sure that it will have a greater affect on the low level users who commit burglaries, theft from auto, retail theft and strong arm robberies.

Where will these users get their money for the now legal drugs that the dealers are not shooting over?

I only speak from experience, as somedays it seems that everybody south of Tasker Street is either stealing, using or selling Oxys. And the quality of life issues that stem from that affect more people than if one or two drug dealers get shot over a turf battle.

[O.H. Lee]

Nos. 2 and 3 on that list. (By extension, it will make #1 easier to find too, but that's collateral damage.)

The rest should stay as they are. The last two aren't really the subject of gun battles on the streets anyway.

True, but as I just wrote, they cause a hell of alot more quality of life issues for more people than a couple shootings do.

[Gladys]

No Suprise Here. (Good thing the population grew to accomodate the murder rate!)
Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, according to stats provided by each city's police department. At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved.

I wasn't paying attention.. didn't know we were number one in this... awful.

Kill-adelphia: Yet again, city tops list of homicide rates | Philadelphia Daily News | 12/30/2011

Do we get a parade??

if you're lucky we'll get a lot of perp walks.

[enyo]

True, but as I just wrote, they cause a hell of alot more quality of life issues for more people than a couple shootings do.

I think the inverse of the broken windows theory could apply in this case. The violence and homicides just make more work for you and take away the focus you could put towards the robberies and thefts. It also has to enable the petty crimes to a degree via the environment. Add to that the money the state would make and throw towards drug rehab for the crack and opiate addicts and an extra means to monitor the addicts.

Regardless, the current model fails at just about every objective. It doesn't keep drugs off the streets, its expensive, it creates violence, it turns ordinary people into criminals via labeling, and it makes a ton of people hate police officers with a passion.

[BarryG]

Comparing prohibition to legalizing drugs is not apples to apples. I am sure there is more to the lessons of the '20's.

There is more to drug use/abuse than the gun shooting dealers.

While some may think it will stop the killings and turf battles I am not so sure.

But I am sure that it will have a greater affect on the low level users who commit burglaries, theft from auto, retail theft and strong arm robberies.

Where will these users get their money for the now legal drugs that the dealers are not shooting over?

I only speak from experience, as somedays it seems that everybody south of Tasker Street is either stealing, using or selling Oxys. And the quality of life issues that stem from that affect more people than if one or two drug dealers get shot over a turf battle.

The high price of street drugs is what makes fighting over turf worth risking life and freedom. The drug war had the explicit intent of making drugs more expensive to buy, but high prices cause more crime. If you take away the huge profits on illegal drugs, the criminal element will fade away.

Once the margin of profit for dealing small amounts of crack cocaine disappeared, being part of the drug trade was no longer worth the persistent threat of violence or the stiff criminal penalties. A 70 percent drop in cocaine prices like the one that occurred in the mid 1990s combined with competition from decentralized sources for methamphetamines and prescription narcotics would completely eliminate the minimum wage drug dealer as a viable profession.

Crime and drugs: Does cheap cocaine make us safer? | The Economist

I don't agree that the QOL life issues from Oxy or whatever addiction outweigh turf wars. Make the safe streets, and productive and positive people will move in.

[phillyaggie]

Add to that the money the state would make and throw towards drug rehab for the crack and opiate addicts and an extra means to monitor the addicts.

it's not that simple. How many states actually use the cigarette settlement billions in their anti-smoking/stop smoking campaigns, and to the extent they're supposed to? especially in lean times, states will just raid this drug money for general funds. So you essentially make the state a drug dealer who is dependent on that income... why would the state spend money on getting people to stop their addictions?

it's kind of the same as with gambling and lotto...

if you watch "Yes, Prime Minister" there is a very funny episode about banning cigarette smoking that pits the prime minister and health ministry against sports ministry... it was just aired a couple weeks ago on NJTV. But in an example of life imitating tv, there was a new report out recently that only a very few states are using their cigarette settlement money to curb public smoking.

[Dayman]

Comparing prohibition to legalizing drugs is not apples to apples.

Yes, it is since they are all drugs with an effect on your body. The irony is that pot is illegal, which makes people want to eat and take a nap or play Call of Duty, while booze is legal which makes people want to fight.

The burglaries and crimes from junkies will be there of course, but that doesn't meant that 1) that doesn't exist now and 2) that justifies the federal government regulating what substances someone can consume in the privacy of their own home.

And the quality of life issues that stem from that affect more people than if one or two drug dealers get shot over a turf battle.

Live in my neighborhood and tell me that. I'll take a neighbor or two zonked out on oxies then the hard faced gangbangers who rove around where I live.

[LUCas]

True, but as I just wrote, they cause a hell of alot more quality of life issues for more people than a couple shootings do.

And making them illegal makes them real hard to find, does it? And imprisoning people for drug addiction helps get them off the drugs? And ignoring the fact that prescription drug abuse, addiction and deaths far outnumber those related to illegal narcotics benefits whom?

No one disputes that drug addicts and addiction is a problem. The dispute is that "The War On Drugs" does anything but make it worse by ostracizing, marginalizing and criminalizing those who get hooked instead of treating them. While creating an extremely lucrativeblack market that empowers criminal enterprises.

Just talking about Marijuana for a minute. California, if viewed as its own entity, is the 5th largest economy in the world. Their number one export is marijuana. That's BEFORE medical marijuana became legal. Drug laws do nothing except enrich pharmaceutical companies, private prisons, and politicians. Oh, and screw over the unlucky few who happen to get caught up in the system as a result.

[ArcticSplash]

I have an idea...

Let's full up the S.S. United States with oxies. You can take an 80mg if you get on the ship, but you can't get off the ship for 3 days. People who abuse oxycontin tend to eat very little because the hard narcotic causes severe constipation.


Get enough pill-heads on board the ship, then set sail about 400mi out into open waters.


Torpedo the ship. By that time, enough of the oxyheads will realize what's happening and will crap their pants, the ship will go down in a torrent of poo-filled death screams and fire until it sinks beneath the water line. They can gobble up more pills to lessen the pain of icy cold water entering their lungs.

[BarryG]

I have an idea...

Let's full up the S.S. United States with oxies. You can take an 80mg if you get on the ship, but you can't get off the ship for 3 days. People who abuse oxycontin tend to eat very little because the hard narcotic causes severe constipation.


Get enough pill-heads on board the ship, then set sail about 400mi out into open waters.


Torpedo the ship. By that time, enough of the oxyheads will realize what's happening and will crap their pants, the ship will go down in a torrent of poo-filled death screams and fire until it sinks beneath the water line. They can gobble up more pills to lessen the pain of icy cold water entering their lungs.

I like this and I have ideas for some other cruise packages we ought to put together...

[Dayman]

I have an idea...

Let's full up the S.S. United States with oxies. You can take an 80mg if you get on the ship, but you can't get off the ship for 3 days. People who abuse oxycontin tend to eat very little because the hard narcotic causes severe constipation.


Get enough pill-heads on board the ship, then set sail about 400mi out into open waters.


Torpedo the ship. By that time, enough of the oxyheads will realize what's happening and will crap their pants, the ship will go down in a torrent of poo-filled death screams and fire until it sinks beneath the water line. They can gobble up more pills to lessen the pain of icy cold water entering their lungs.

Absolutely not. The S.S. United States has beautiful lines and history and doesn't deserve such an ignoble fate.