Violence—Why the Growing Concern
By Awake! correspondent in Britain
DO YOU live in a “no-go” area? This is a part of a city that public service employees—doctors, nurses, and even policemen—are fearful of entering alone. Officially, there are none in Britain, but ‘difficult area’ is a less emotional name for the same thing. And some authorities say there are over 70 of these in London alone, with many more in other cities of the country.
Britain’s Home Secretary expressed his concern, saying: “The peace of our society is now undermined not by foreign threats, but by the appetite for violence of too many of our fellow citizens.”
Not that Britain (with its 17-percent rise in violent crime during a recent 12-month period) is at the top of the list. Far from it. Many other places have higher crime rates. In the first nine months of last year, 10,607 violent crimes—murder, rape, robbery, and assault—were committed just on New York City subways! However, researcher Dr. Michael Pratt says there is evidence to support the claims that “the streets of London are becoming like New York.”
Yet, New York is not the worst city for crime. Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, and Chicago are among the eight major U.S. cities that reported more violent crimes per capita in 1987 than New York did. Everywhere, it seems, violence is a growing cause for concern. Psychiatrist Thomas Radecki observed that ‘most Western countries have seen increases in violence rates of from 200 to 500 percent over the past 20 years.’
Violent crimes have also increased elsewhere. In Kenya, East Africa, for example, 400 cattle rustlers not long ago indiscriminately slaughtered some 190 men, women, and children, callously leaving the bodies to be eaten by vultures and hyenas.
In the Soviet Union, soccer violence was reported ‘to be sweeping the nation.’ Similarly, China’s Central Committee for Promoting Socialist Ethics spoke out against ‘quarrels, fistfights, and even injuries and deaths during soccer matches.’ The committee lamented: ‘Sports enthusiasts, especially young ones, must be educated to be civilized.’
Clearly, violent crimes are a cause for growing concern. But what is being done to meet the challenge they present?