Violence in America

Reading the news – over the Internet or in print media – one would get the idea that America is a dangerous place in which to live. Shootings, robberies, murder, drive-by killings, parents drugging their kids, dumping them over bridges into rivers, moms driving the family car loaded with the kids into lakes drowning them all, bombers at public events or large government buildings, school shootings, et. al.  The list goes on and on.

Reading the news, however, does not provide the full story. No. The story is much larger than that – ‘Life in America’.

Those of us living here know that. We arise in the morning, dress for work, kiss the family good bye as they go off to their schools or jobs, and make our own commute to our job. We encounter countless people in our daily routine – during the commute, at our office or factory, or behind the wheel of the vehicle we are driving as a primary function of our work. We encounter the public, customers, co-workers. We connect with more people via phone, Skype, internet connections, emails, letters and meetings. We have business lunches, and dinners, and conferences at area hotels and convention centers. We travel to larger meetings and meet hundreds or thousands of our professional cohorts to do business.

When not working we are living normal lives. Reading and relaxing. Mowing the lawn, painting the house, washing the car, planting or weeding gardens. We also clean the house, do the wash, clean the dishes and plan meals. We fix meals and eat them. We relate with family members in a daily fashion. We encourage them with school work, personal hygiene, teaching manners and politeness – civility 101! – and oh so much more.

We also entertain others at home with dinners, cocktail parties, gab fests over dessert, and card games.

We go to concerts and public lectures. We seek the same on TV so we don’t have to brave the local roads and parking lots at in-person venues. We may also take in a class or two at the local university, college or junior college.

In between all of the above we have a chance to stop for coffee at Starbucks, Panera Bread, diners, coffee shops and restaurants. We also grab a Danish, hamburger, sandwich, or another meal on the go.

When finally at home with some time to spend we work on our relationships with our spouse and kids and any other family member who happens by.

America does not have a monopoly on busy families or lifestyles. I bet it is like this all over the globe. As time passes our families spend more and more time just living daily routines. There will be others who spend their time doing something else.

Like crime and violence. That’s why we have police and sheriff departments. It is also why we have the FBI, CSI and countless other law enforcement agencies. And the National Guard!

Of course we must count in the court system and detention/prison facilities in this discussion. In America there are all sorts of activities related to public safety and its enforcement infrastructure.

At some point, however, we must take stock in what is happening.

First of all, is America’s experience with crime and violence out of the ordinary? Do we have too much crime and violence? If so, how much more than ordinary is it? Just how pressing an issue is this?

Second, what are the primary causes or ‘incident leaders’? Is crime mostly petty stuff? Or is it serious violence events? What are the trend lines for either?

Once we have these two items defined, then we need to assess what to do about them. Some options are inevitably on this list:

1. Hire more police and infrastructure personnel
2. Reduce guns on the street
3. Address mental illness as a cause of crime and violence.
4. Categorize all other options

We already spend a vast sum of money on police, crime labs, prisons, courts and other infrastructure. Adding to this sum only accentuates the size of our problem. Perhaps we need to spend more time and resources on stemming the tide of crime and violence?

And this all assumes that our crime and violence rates are well beyond reasonable, expected standards. That has yet to be defined!

Assuming we have a crime and violence problem, there are two root causes that we should attend to: mental illness and number of guns in our society.

Although I think the enormity of the gun population is a problem, that is my personal view. I think the number of guns available to the public is far too large and should be reduced significantly. Guns are simply too available for use. Responsible owners control access to the guns and use their weapons sensibly. They are not the problem.

It is the rest of the gun owning population that poses the problem. Why? Because their weapons are not well controlled, are not minded well enough, and thus are available for others to misuse and abuse.

And that’s where the problem lies. Violent people and criminals suffer from mental illnesses that are dangerous to themselves and others. Have we done enough to address these mental health issues? Are we stemming the tide of new persons with disturbed behavior? Are we holding our own on this matter? Or is the trend line one of growth and expected future mayhem?

I suspect we have a lot to do in America to understand what the problem is and how to manage it. But I do think we have a problem with crime and violence and would like to see it managed to much lower incidence levels. Focusing on mental health is probably the primary issue here. Gun population is only a weak secondary issue.

Meanwhile, who is watching over this issue in the first place?  Anyone? Perhaps this is a new growth industry opportunity?

July 23, 2015