How can we stop inner city crime?

Question

In major cities all over America inner city crime is getting way out of hand. Many innocent kids are killed by stray bullets and they are just sitting in their yards.
Don't say to throw more money at these people - they have had welfare for generations and it hasn't helped. It has hurt if you ask me. Fostered a sense of entitlement and laziness.

Joe K - it is a total cop-out to blame gun factories for crime. There is NO violent crime in my city and we have a gun wholesale shop here!
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

hichefheidi - you assume that I do NOTHING to help poor people in my area. You would be wrong. I help organize food drives for our food pantry, bake for a homeless shelter, and my Sunday School class makes blankets and friendship bracelets for shelters. I am in favor of people taking responsiblity for their actions and not blaming society. If your parents needed temporary assistance - OKAY - that is what I think it should be for - temporary help. Not as a lifelong entitlement. I think the breakdown of the inner city starts with no father in the home and things go to h3ll from there. Even THAT should not be an excuse for murder.
Stop with the anger for me and my life. It is a VERY good life and I KNOW I am blessed to live it and WE worked hard to get where we are. I know it can be done.

Answer 1

I have come to beleive there is only one solution to the huge problem..take a hidious law and use it to our advantage...DECLARE ALL GANG MEMBERS to be what they are... TERRORISTS! They are easy to identiy..they have gang tats. AND the police already know where they are. They can be arrested, held without bail for indefinent amounts of time without trial, sent to Guantanamo, Cuba to our prisoner camp...Start today, round up EVERY GANG MEMBER in the US. Lock them up, let them go to it amoung themselves...When the dust settles, see who is left standing. I can guarantee that he crime rate will plummet, drive by shootings will all but disappear, and it will be a much safer place for you and me. Considering the cost of the project, it would be much cheaper to handle this in this manner than what is happening today...NOTHING. Becoming a Gang Member should be a one way ticket to hell...make it so. Only when we make it more profitable for kids to learn in school than to sell drugs, a better life to work than to be in jail or a fenced in camp in the open, will things improve. The Government acts as if its hands are tied...they are NOT...GANG MEMBERS ARE TERRORISTS..treat them as such. Education has failed, totally. People of the inner cities ARE the victims of these terrorists..they cannot move up or out, for they are kept paralyzed by the crime they must live with, in GREAT fear, daily. Remove this growth by surgery..it is the only hope at this point. All else has failed.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

It only stops when the criminal activity in business and goverment stops. The street crime that we see is an indirect result of what the business and government criminals are doing every day.

So if you consider that much of the crime is a result of the guns and drugs you would have to ask where they are coming from. Nobody in the inner city owns a gun factory. Nobody in the inner city owns a farm or a boat or plane to bring the drugs into the US.

It all starts from the top and rolls down hill. When you destroy the educational system and then destroy the job market you create a generation of people who prefer a life of crime because they have no other means of survival. When you provide them with welfare and then create the system to operate in such a way where they cannot get a job or a bank account without losing their benefits that puts them in a position where they cannot transition out of the welfare system.

Answer 4

I completely agree on the "sense of entitlement" -- for me it's a re-occurring theme in this generation across all cultures.

This is a tough question because inner city crime has always existed. Think of the slums in London during the 1800's or even the movie Gangs of New York.

It seems to me that the more repressive we get that the results become more vicious. I think employment could be a factor as well as education.

It appears to me that what we think of as "inner city" is really a sub-culture that exists inside the broader sense of society. Within this sub-culture is a rigid set of rules regarding behavior, sense of self and the social pecking order and perceived levels of success.

And currently our society supports these sub-cultures because they are controlled. The LA police got into trouble lately for moving homeless people from a ... good area to a bad area, if you will.

And so, within this sub-culture things become more primitive. Machismo, pregnancy, outward signs of wealth and success (bling!) and territory are on display and have significance to those achieving those facets of, really now, status.

Some of the problem is perception. Many think of South Central Los Angeles as a war zone but on any day you can walk happily down the street with no problem at all. The huddled masses yearning to breathe free are happily eating pizza and watching television.

As the Guru said, change must come from within. More repressive authority, increased welfare, re-building will not make a change. Changing what is considered success in a micro-society where status is at its most basic is the key. This was true in 1958's West Side Story and it is true today.

Answer 5

Give people who live in these neighborhoods a reason to care about their neighborhood!
Slumlords and the government surely isn't doing anything!
Unfortunately many people do not have the resources to move out of poverty. It is a huge catch 22. Get a job- well who's watching the kids- will the job be profitable after paying for decent childcare- and transportation?
Clean up the neighborhood- why? Most are rentals, also- no money.
The schools can't care about the kids- it would be too much for the heart to bear.
I am sick of everybody whining about welfare. It isn't a free ride. I have had assistance- and believe me- it isn't all about what you think it is. All of the well to do's should maybe give somebody a hand. If everybody did that it could make a difference. But too many are busy calling names and crying about welfare. Get off your couch in front of your plasma screen, your laptop or whatever and take some poor mom a bag of groceries. Offer some gas money. DO SOMETHING besides criticize!

Answer 6

There isn't anymore welfare you are misinformed. Foster Children are given for their support through 14 years of schooling.
High School and 2 years of Vocation training for a job. Then they are on their own. Some people believe that people are given welfare money and can have babies and sit at home. This is not true. Most foster children are put on the birth control pill.
Until they get an education, to support themselves and are out on their own. If they get pregnant, the option to keep the child is rarely open to them. Either abortion or adoption is their choices.
And why didn't you take your pill, now take it. Inner city crime is because the only option to most of these people is to sell themselves or drugs. The poor class is widening because of low wages and poor living conditions. Not welfare!

Answer 7

My parents took food stamps for 2 years while they went to school, worked and had children. We are all successful now. So no, it doesn't do what you think it does. Perhaps they are all making the choice to stay home with their kids, instead of going to work, because their kids come first...Or maybe they should just marry a rich guy!

It's always funny to me that the same people who are 'concerned' about the youth in inner cities, do nothin to volunteer, wouldn't even WALk through that part of town! Where I come from, that is called a NIMBY (not in my back yard). Have you been to a welfare office ever? They don't throw money, just so you know. Ignorance is bliss. Stay in your sheltered world.

Answer 8

These kids should have access to educational programs and have scholarships available to them because a lot of the children who end up in gangs feel that there is no other hope or way that they can live a better life. They should have the an equal opportunity to get post-secondary education.

Answer 9

National guard. Or Robo Cop (lol). No welfare. Free (but not optional) job training and parenting classes. Government paid for child care (if you go to work). More strict penalty for minors and some sort of punishment for parents that are doing nothing to prevent juvenile crime.

Answer 10

It all goes back to the home. many homes have no parents to take care of these children who then hit the streets and run into bad situation. Love is the answer. If you are going to have kids then you should be able to give them everything they need. You should be able to be there for them. If you cant then you shouldn't have them its that simple. This is a problem that has been going on for hundreds of years. In ever culture there are those children who are discarded by their parents only to end up in gangs on the streets. These gangs are the only ones who care for them so they end up forming a surrogate family to replace their lost family.