Are we a statistic waiting

[terryl965]

Every year our goverment gives out crime rate statistic, are these for real are we just a pawn in the game of crime. Can anyone really not be a statistic waiting to happen?
Are there ways to be safe at all times?
Are there ways to really teach people how not to be a statistic?

Crime rate doubles every year, if this is the case and every second of the day someone is a statistic what can really be done about it?
Can we overcome this tend, are we capable of bounding together so we are not going to let them over run us?

 

[Blindside]

Every year our goverment gives out crime rate statistic, are these for real are we just a pawn in the game of crime. Can anyone really not be a statistic waiting to happen?
Are there ways to be safe at all times?
Are there ways to really teach people how not to be a statistic?

Crime rate doubles every year, if this is the case and every second of the day someone is a statistic what can really be done about it?
Can we overcome this tend, are we capable of bounding together so we are not going to let them over run us?

Er, what?
Crime rates do not double every year, thats just silly.
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/prelim06/table3.htm

There is no way to be safe at all times, there are ways to make yourself safer. Stay out of bars, avoid the "bad" parts of town, lock your house, have an alarm, have a dog, don't associate with criminals, stay alert. Good luck ending crime, even the impossible task of ending poverty won't stop that.

Lamont

 

[terryl965]

Ok Lamont you know you are right it does'nt double but the possibilities of being a statistic is higher than ever. No we can not live like hermits but we need to find a way to lesson the burden.

 

[Flying Crane]

I think crime statistics are something of a sensationalistic reporting technique. They focus on the bad things that happen, and don't really address the fact that every single day, hundreds of millions of people in the US did not have any crime done upon them. That's the part that we forget to acknowledge.

This is not an attempt to brush off the fact that crime does happen, and it is a good idea to be alert, avoid bad places and bad people, and take reasonable steps to stay safe. But I don't think it is an appropriate or necessary exercise to get all freaked out by crime statistics and then end up all paranoid and afraid to walk out of our front doors.

Just remember the other side of the statistics, the part that doesn't get reported.

And yes, life is sometimes dangerous and sometimes that danger is out of our control. Being alive is hazardous to one's health!

 

[Bigshadow]

Violent crime isn't random. Violent criminals often seek an easy target. Reduce your signature and you disappear off of their radar. Likewise your radar must be up. Those that don't do these things are more likely to become a statistic than those that do. So one cannot look at the statistics and say, well one day it is an absolute fact it is going to happen to me. It is possible, but not nearly as likely as it is for others.

Just don't get caught up in being paranoid. It is hard to enjoy life being paranoid.

 

[Andrew Green]

Well, you could stay pretty safe... Anyone see that Penn & Teller episode where Teller locked himself in a box with armed security guards outside it to stay safe, then everyone went for dinner without him?

You got to enjoy yourself too, otherwise what's the point of being safe. If the two are at odds with each other, you need a balance.

And if crime stats are doubling every year After 10 years it will be up 1000 x what it is now, best get on the winning team :lol:

 

[still learning]

Hello, The bad guys have more rights than the innocent ones. Our laws do not work, PERIOD! Just look around how many do not serve there full term, because they gotta make room for the incoming.

70% of the crimes today comes from repeat offenders. (IN and OUT) burgers?

All prediators are NOT CURE BY JAIL TIME! .... once release..they do it again...and again...and again...

same for the drug people....(it is about self-esteem and liking themselves)..most don't have any! ...end results...they do it again and again..

What are the odd of being a statistic? ....Extemely good...don't you think!

Most of kids in our martial art classes were brought there by there Parents..who worries about there kids becoming a statistic!

UNTILL we change our laws and get rid of the bad guys for good...they will come out again and again.

Our government is run by religion...our laws reflect that. That is why we hardly use the DEATH PENATY.

Imagine if the bad guys commit a serious crime and we end there life..quickly (with-in 30 days or less after sentencing)? What do you think our crime rate will be? .........Remember...laws are made by men...and separation of church from government. (is needed here).

Yes some inocent people where sent to jail(death row)...but many of them had prior records of other things too! ...very few are sentence without any prior criminal records(on death row).

Keep the bad things in life? ...you will only get more bad things later?

Why let the good people suffer and worry about becoming a statistic?

Look to past how things never change...yet every year we know crime is on the rise...why? ....things really do never change (our laws)...Aloha

 

[jdinca]

Nobody can be 100% safe. Even if you never leave your home, you could still be the victim of violence. What we can do is drastically minimize the possibility of becoming a statistic. Training how to defend yourself goes a long ways towards achieving that goal. Personally though, I feel that learning how to pay attention to what's going on around you and applying common sense are just as important, if not more so, than learning physical self defense techniques. It's amazing what people blithely walk into, just by being oblivious to the world around them.

 

[jks9199]

Every year our goverment gives out crime rate statistic, are these for real are we just a pawn in the game of crime. Can anyone really not be a statistic waiting to happen?
Are there ways to be safe at all times?
Are there ways to really teach people how not to be a statistic?

Crime rate doubles every year, if this is the case and every second of the day someone is a statistic what can really be done about it?
Can we overcome this tend, are we capable of bounding together so we are not going to let them over run us?

Crime statistics can be very misleading, and it's a complicated area to discuss.

At the federal level here in the US, there are two primary measuring tools; the FBI's stats reported annually in Crime in the United States, and the Department of Justice's Crime Victimization Survey. Neither is perfect; the FBI's numbers are what is reported to police, and rely on the local departments to voluntarily submit the information, and to classify things appropriately. It doesn't get any information on crimes that aren't reported. The Crime Victimization Survey is an actual survey of a representative portion of the population (hopefully...) to see how what sorts of crimes they were victims of. It relies on the quality of the sample, and on the honesty of people responding... And it will almost never capture some crimes. (Not too many murder victims answer questionairres for some reason...)

On top of that, many states, counties, cities, or towns maintain their own numbers, in their own way. And it's easily possible for a chief looking to support certain efforts to "massage" the numbers in various ways to achieve their goals. For example, if someone is trying to justify hiring more officers, they might start recording many more calls for service or incidents... But if they're an elected sheriff, running on a platform that he's reduced crime, he may discourage deputies from reporting individual offenses, and lump as much into one as he can.

There're are also problems with recognizing why trends are happening and knowing what they mean. For example, within a few years of the start of a concentrated anti-gang effort, including education and training for the public and officers, you might see some gang offenses climbing, as more are recognized and reported. Or, aggressive traffic enforcement might end up increasing the numbers of tickets written (so more people are driving "badly") and reducing the numbers of accidents (so people are driving more safely) at the same time.

At heart -- if you keep an eye on the published crime reports over the year, you'll have an idea what's going on. And have some clue as to how safe you are at home. But you can probably get the same thing by simply being aware of what's going on around you... Published numbers don't really tell you much, by themselves.