[BITList] up and running

[x50type at cox.net]

New Orleans

One killing yesterday – so we’re off to a good start.......................

According to NOPD data, 64 percent of murder victims have been arrested for a felony. That story line is not unique to New Orleans.

"If you're not involved in the drug trade and you don't have a criminal record, the likelihood that you're going to be involved in a homicide or shooting is very small," said Mallory O'Brien, head of the Homicide Review Commission in Milwaukee, where 75 percent of homicide victims had prior arrests.

In the late 1950s, criminologist Marvin Wolfgang coined a new term, "victim-precipitated homicides," in which the victim plays a role in his own death by, say, starting a fight or wielding a weapon. Thirty years later, a massive study of homicide in Chicago looked at 20,000 victims over a 25-year span and found that nearly 60 percent had an arrest record.

At the time, it was considered a surprising finding. But no more.

"The majority of homicide victims have extensive criminal histories. This is simply the way that the world of criminal homicide works. It's a fact," said David Kennedy, head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control. "When we act as if this fact of prior criminal activity isn't true, we send the signal that everybody's at risk all the time."

So Mike,

you should be ok

ct

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20120102/620fba11/attachment.shtml