Drug Gangs Spark Urban Violence

Drug Gangs Spark Urban Violence
1/14/2005

Communities that defy the generally downward trend in violent crime continue to struggle with drug-related gang violence, the Christian Science Monitor reported Jan. 10.

Cities like Chicago have enjoyed good success in cutting down their overall number of homicides in recent years -- in 2004, for example, 151 fewer people were murdered in Chicago than in 2003, a decline of 25 percent. Far fewer gun crimes also were reported. Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Oakland, and Miami also had fewer killings.

But homicides were up in St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, and Boston, with experts pointing to stubborn problems with gang and drug violence, particularly among juveniles, as one cause.

Chicago's success is credited to better tracking of crime and better deployment of police. "If a shooting occurred in a certain gang area, it didn't take too much to realize there would be a retaliatory shooting" and for police to respond before the revenge killing could take place, a Chicago police official pointed out.

Chicago police also stepped up street-level drug enforcement, and seized more than 10,000 guns.

Baltimore, on the other hand, has seen a spike in killings even as the long-term trend has been downward. Community leaders blame drugs and a culture that glorifies thuggish behavior.

This article is online at http://www.jointogether.org/y/0,2521,575655,00.html


This information may be freely reproduced and distributed, provided that attribution is made to "Join Together Online (www.jointogether.org)."
Join Together is a project of the Boston University School of Public Health.