Violence in Urban America Mobilizing a Response (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A: Violence in Cornet: A Case Study
Appendix A: Violence in Cornet: A Case Study
Pages 55-84
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APPENDIX A Violence in Cornet: A Case Study
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The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.
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8: Homicide Circumstances, 1980, 1989. 9: Homicide Rates for Black and White Males, 1980, 1985, 1989.
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"You have reached the Cornet City Police Department. All of our opera tors are currently handling emergency calls.
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Mark was one of about a dozen neighborhood youths who hung out in front of a string of abandoned businesses on Forten Street, stepping up to cars to make unhurried drug sales. He was a 'lieutenant' in the street hierarchy: an intermediary between the local supplier and the boys and young men and a few females who made the actual drug transactions.
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B A WEEKEND OF VIOLENCE AND THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE The next morning, the death of Anita Woods made the front page of the Cornet Courier: Six Slain in Weekend Murders Victims Include 3-Year-Old In the city's bloodiest weekend this year, six people died under cir cumstances ranging from child abuse to robbery.
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Finally, 22-year-old Anita Woods was gunned down in the 700 block of Forten Street, in an ageing section of Southwood known as Poplar Hills. CCPD detectives report that they have no motive at this time.
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By the end of the day, mayor Chris Warren had called a press conference. Flanked by the Deputy Mayor and the Chief of Police, Warren read from a prepared statement.
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Chairing the Task Force will be Deputy Mayor John Canady." The duties of the Task Force were threefold: first, to attend community meetings throughout the city to get firsthand knowledge of the nature of the problems faced by different constituencies, and to gather information on effective grassroots initiatives. Second, the Task Force would hold citywide public hearings to obtain testimony from "experts" as well as local citizens.
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We've only got a population of 600,000 so if this continues, our homicide rate will rival that in urban areas like the District of Columbia, Chicago and New York City." "That's a distinction we definitely don't want," the Chief replied. ODA data showed that, after several years of decreasing homicide rates, in 1985 the number of murders in Cornet began to climb precipitously, from 148 in 1985 to more than three times that number by the end of 1990.
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. ~ ~% % % % Homicide Arrestees Testing Positive for: Any Drug Use 44 49 64 35 Cocaine Use 25 31 49 32 PCP Use 24 25 25 5 All Arrestees Testing Positive for: .
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Starting in 1985 there had been a dramatic increase in the number of drug violations and the following year drug arrests exceeded the number of actual robberies or burglaries. These data did not necessarily indicate that the number of drug-related crimes was overtaking the numbers for other Part I Offenses only the fact that apprehension rates for robberies and burglaries remained low.
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Now that he had the big picture, Burnett began to consider the individual cases. Two domestic situations; one robbery with a possible racial component; a disgruntled employee; a barroom brawl.
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It's drug dealers beefing with each other over territory. Or it's a dealer killing off a customer who won't pay up the dealer feels he's got to kill the person otherwise he's gonna be considered a punk "weakling]
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~ _, _ ^~ ~ ~ .= .~- ~ ~ _ ~ .......... , ~ ~:::.-., D Southwood Poplar Hills Crimesl1000 Population 1 1S 16 31 31-4S 61 J' 76-t.
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Not only that, they're not afraid to kill. Even if you're a police officer." The data did indicate that police work was dangerous, with 138 assaults on police officers in l99O, 13% of them involving a gun.
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were black males between the ages of 16 and 39. Indeed, homicide among black males was noted with alarm by many groups; these rates were many times higher than that for white males, at
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APPENDIX A: VIOLENCE IN CORNET: A CASE STUDY Exhibit S: HOW I C I DE C I RCUMSTANCES 19 unlcr - on C24~ Oth~ C6- POllC l~lootl~ (9-58)
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74 VIOLENCE IN URBAN AMERICA Exhibit 9: HOM I C I DE RATE FOR BLACK MALES I _ J: a ~a. ~ ~ 1dillO ~9 11#15 ~3 1~ HOM I C I DE RATE FOR OH I TE MALES boo ~ r i ~ ~ .
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But that's got nothing to do with big, formal gangs with initiation rituals, turf staked out, protection rackets, and all the stuff you read about in places like Chicago and Los Angeles. Here in Cornet City, you might have 6 or 8 guys hanging out together for a few months, maybe dealing some drugs or knocking over a liquor store or two.
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When there was a gang hassle that turned violent, you could expect the leaders to work it out like they did after the riots in LA. Here in Cornet City, no one's in charge, so there's no telling what's going to set off a chain of killings, and it's awfully hard to turn things around." Despite this detailed explanation, the day after the interview the headline read: GANG VIOLENCE PLAGUES CORNET CITY, POLICE SAY.
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They also include medical and psychiatric care for victims; their lost earnings; and, most important, years of potential life lost. It was estimated that homicides and non-fatal violent injuries cost the nation $180 billion dollars in 1990.
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At the same time, social service workers could only respond to the most extreme cases: budget cuts in the Department of Human and Rehabilitative Services had reduced the number of child abuse case workers by half. Without the money to hire appropriate staff, the agency had little time for prevention.
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After being questioned by Detective Soames, she asked for the name of the local district police commander and, after consulting with several neighbors, arranged to meet him at the local church. Because of the publicity surrounding the death of Anita Woods, this was one of the community meetings that Task Force
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Officers complained that even though they might want to clear a particular street corner of drug dealers, they were reluctant to do so when the arrestee had often paid the fine for "incommoding" and was back on the street before the paperwork had been completed. Teams of foot patrolmen were sometimes sent out with one walkietalkie between them.
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Moreover, a policy change during that time meant that a prior criminal record was no longer reason for disqualification for police work. In addition, both the length of training and its content had been reduced significantly.
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"Now wait a minute Denny, I can understand what you're sayin' about the police brutality and all, but one thing you're forgetting is that these black people are out here killing other black people." The observation was correct: 93 percent of black victims were killed by other black people; the rate for whites killing other whites. was 86 percent.
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Lord, I remember that man would beat her something terrible and the police wouldn't do anything about it. I mean, you may not know how to protect people against drug dealers, but you should be able to protect a woman against somebody right in her own home who is trying to hurt her or kill her." "You're right ma'am, the laws used to be really inadequate.
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If the officer sees that the woman is bruised, and the house is all torn uphe can make the arrest based on his own judgment." Although their meeting with Captain McDougal did not satisfy Lydia Davis and her neighbors completely, some good did result from it. They got to know one of the officers on a personal basis and were willing to provide information on suspicious vehicles and other goings-on in the neighborhood.
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