Is a new crime wave on the horizon?

THE CRIME IS VERY BAD ALL OVER, IT IS TIME FOR PEOPLE TO PUT THE GUNS DOWN...SO MANY PEOPLE ARE QUICK TO SHOOT AND NOT REALIZE WHO THEY ARE REALLY HURTING.

(CNN)After decades of a downward trend in crime, residents in some large U.S. cities wonder if a reversal is coming.

If you live in Baltimore, you know that May, with 43 homicides, was the deadliest month since 1972. Or if you are a Houstonian, you've probably heard that murders were up 45% through April compared to the same period in 2014.

The latest statistics in Milwaukee show a 103% spike in murders year-to-date compared with a year ago.

The spike in killings in these major cities would be troubling in itself at any time, but it is especially troubling now, when policing practices, race and social policies are regularly in the news.

The video of a gunman brazenly opening fire on another man in the Bronx in May, or another gunman caught on camera firing across the street at someone in Harlem in April, spread so swiftly online that it is fair to ask if a crime wave is on the horizon.

A review of murder statistics in major U.S. cities so far this year shows an unclear picture.

While Baltimore and Houston appear to be experiencing a crime wave, comparable cities like Dallas and Los Angeles are trending in the opposite direction.

In short, it is too early to draw conclusions of a shift in the trend for violent crime.

 

Anecdotal evidence

How telling is Baltimore's deadly month of May?

Of the 119 homicides recorded in Baltimore this year, more than one-third happened in May.

As the Baltimore Sun put it in an editorial, "We don't think it is at all unreasonable to start asking questions about leadership in a city that, over the last month, was less safe by some measures than it has been at any point in recorded history."

On Wednesday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said his office is asking for more federal resources -- prosecutors and law enforcement officers -- to boost the city's response to the recent uptick in crime.

Speaking at an event remembering a toddler who was killed by a stray bullet last year, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said last month that it is a "very, very painful time in our city."

 

On the other extreme is Los Angeles. Because of its large population, the city notches one of the nation's highest numbers of murders, but the trend has been shrinking violent crime.

CNN requested murder statistics for 2015 from a number of large U.S. cities. Some departments cooperated right away, while others asked for more time or formal open records requests. Among the departments that released statistics, the numbers reflected different periods. Some cities had murder statistics through May, others just through April.

For the cities where crime does appear to be trending upward, how can one know if it is a blip or a historic reversal?

"It's a little bit like the stock market. These statistics go up and down," said Harold Pollack, co-director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. "It's like asking why did the stock market go up 75 points today."

But numbers have the power to sway, and many of these figures are being used already to bolster arguments for stronger police enforcement or a reformed police presence.

Explaining the downward trend

As policing has changed over the years, the question of what the nationwide decreases in violent crime means has been debated.

There is general agreement that larger police departments -- and more officers in the streets -- has had a positive effect on lowering crime, Pollack said.

The quality of policing has also improved over the past 20 years and the departments are better managed, he said.

Other factors are harder to quantify.

 

The end of the crack epidemic is believed to have contributed to the decrease in violent crime, as have other reasons ranging from the legalization of abortion to changes in the illegal drug market.

This year "may not be shaping up to be a terrific year in many cities, and it may be part of a larger pattern, but we really don't know that," Pollack said.

So what's the debate right now?

One obvious difference between last year and this year is the tensions between police officers and certain communities.

The high-profile instances of police officers killing unarmed black men stirred outrage and protests.

There is an understanding that somehow things have changed -- or must change -- in a post-Michael Brown, post-Freddie Gray, post-Eric Garner America.

 

READ MORE.... http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/us/crime-in-america/index.html

Rev. Al Sharpton to rally in 100 cities over Trayvon Martin death

100 cities RALLY FOR Trayvon Martin death Civil rights leaders are planning vigils and rallies in 100 U.S. cities this weekend to press the federal government to bring charges against a former-neighborhood watch volunteer acquitted in the killing of an unarmed black teenager.

George Zimmerman had been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year, but a jury of six women found him not guilty of that charge as well as the lesser charge of manslaughter.

“People all across the country will gather to show that we are not having a two- or three-day anger fit. This is a social movement for justice,” Rev. Al Sharpton said Tuesday as he announced the plan outside the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

The rallies and vigils will occur in front of federal court buildings at noon Saturday in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.

Martin was visiting his father and returning to the home of his father’s fiancée in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, after a trip to the store when Zimmerman identified him as a potential criminal. The neighborhood watchman fatally shot Martin during a physical confrontation in February 2012.

Martin was black, and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. Zimmerman was not arrested for 44 days, and the delay in charging him led to nationwide protests from those who believed race was a factor in the handling of the case.

 

Sharpton says vigils will be followed by a conference next week in Miami to develop a plan to address Florida’s “stand-your-ground” law. The law gives people wide latitude to use deadly force if they fear death or bodily harm.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said such laws, which exist in many states, need to be reassessed.

“Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation’s attention, it’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods,” Holder said during a speech before a convention of the NAACP civil rights group.

Meanwhile, protests over Zimmerman’s acquittal have broken out as far away as California, where rallies were small and calm Tuesday night. In Los Angeles, police had vowed to crack down with quick action to prevent a recurrence of the vandalism and violence the city saw on Monday night in street protests.

The Justice Department has said it is looking into Martin’s death to determine whether federal prosecutors will file criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, who is now a free man.

The key to charging Zimmerman lies in whether evidence exists that he was motivated by racial animosity to kill Martin. While Martin’s family has said the teen was racially profiled, no evidence surfaced during the state trial that Zimmerman had a racial bias. Zimmerman maintained he acted in self-defense. He claimed Martin was slamming his head into the concrete sidewalk when he fired his gun.

Zimmerman’s friends and family have repeatedly denied he harbored racial animosity toward blacks.

One of the jurors in the case — known only as Juror B37 because their identities have not been released — said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday that she did not believe Zimmerman followed Martin because of his race.

Juror B37 said the actions of Zimmerman and Martin both led to the teenager’s fatal shooting last year, but that Zimmerman didn’t actually break the law. She said Zimmerman made some mistakes, but that she believed Martin struck Zimmerman first and that the neighborhood watch volunteer had a right to defend himself.

Juror B37 said the jurors were initially divided on Zimmerman’s guilt, with three jurors believing he was guilty of either manslaughter or second-degree murder, but that the jury agreed to acquit him after studying the law.

Four other jurors issued a brief statement on court stationary late Tuesday saying that the opinions expressed by Juror B37 in the TV interview “were her own, and not in any way representative of the jurors listed below.” It was signed by Jurors B51, B76, E6 and E40.

The four other jurors said in their statement that Martin’s death weighed on them.

“Serving on this jury has been a highly emotional and physically draining experience for each of us,” the statement said. “The death of a teenager weighed heavily on our hearts but in the end we did what the law required us to do.”

They also made a request for privacy. The court has not released the names of the six-woman jury, which included five whites and one woman who appeared to reporters to be Hispanic.

In a statement to CNN released Wednesday, Juror B37 said she prayed for those who have the power to modify laws that gave her “no verdict option other than ‘not guilty’ in order to remain within the instructions.”

 

Jacksonville, FL: It's time to take to this movement to the streets and allow it to MOVE. Join us as we caravan and march against injustice. At 10:30 we are meeting in our cars at the Gas station where Jordan Davis was shot. We are going to play our music and sing in remembrance of our fallen children. We are then going to caravan downtown to The states attorney office, where will will leave our vehicles and march over to the Jail house where Marissa Alexander is held and sing and cheer for her. From there we are going to ma...rch over to Hemming Plaza.