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National Guard
Time to call in the National Guard. Too many psychopaths are treating Boston like some third-world combat zone.
Where were you in the 1970s? 1980s?
When crime rates and violent crime peaked?
This is horrible, but it doesn't necessitate a militarized police response.
American society basically negatively transmogrified
during the mid to late 60s on into the 70s, and our violent crime rates, mostly in cities and urban areas, skyrocketed. Terrible, terrible things happened during this period that frankly should have resulted in some type of limited martial law to restore order and safety. Boston (but not some other cities, especially smaller ones) has since then transformed into a showcase, premier American city. But back then people, innocent people, of all ages, races, genders, were shot, stabbed, murdered, left paralyzed, raped,etc., at an incredibly alarming rate. Add to that the epidemic of arson for profit (real estate during this period collapsed, interest rates were skyhigh, the economy was awful, de-industrialization was peaking), the explosion of drug addiction and the violence and decay it entails, and it was an ugly scene.
There are policies today that should be implemented that would, at least after a generation or two, greatly reduce our levels of violent crime in urban areas, but we as a society don't have the cajones to see it through.
Yes, it was terrible. A pity your screed stops in 1993
Because after the 70s and 80s came the 90s, and crime rates in most urban areas plummeted like a rock. Do you remember when Boston was up near 150 or 160 murders a year? Do you remember when they could make moves about Manhattan being turned into a high-security prison and people would just nod their heads, yes, yes.
So, yes, horrible crimes are horrible, but this isn't the 1980s anymore and while there are, in fact, cities that have terrible, terrible crime problems (Chicago, Baltimore), Boston is not one of them and it's time to figure out what to do about crime without tut-tutting about how the city is going to hell in a hand basket, because it's not.
I didn't stop in 1993
In fact, although our murder rate has greatly diminished (NYC has seen an even more dramatic drop from a high of 2000 a year to under 400!), But there are many reasons for this drop in the murder rate:
*Superior emergency medical care that keeps many more people alive today than 30, 40 plus years ago. We still have high rates of assaults, even serious assaults, they just generally don't leave to death (murder, manslaughter, etc.)
*Tough on crime policies from the 90s especially resulted in long prison terms for repeat and violent offenders, which reduced violent street crime like 9 year old children being shot in the street. Mayor Giuliani in NYC instituted sustained crackdowns on so-called quality of life crime (so-called broken window theory) and pro-active policing such as stop and frisk in high crime areas. These were successful in reducing negative quality of life crimes and getting illegal firearms out of the hands of criminals.
*Demographic changes: NYC and much of Boston have become very expensive and 'gentrified'. This has caused there 'ghetto's to spread outside city limits, into poorer surrounding metro towns and cities, leading to significant reductions in crime in the city. But, of course, the violence and crime has just migrated to another location outside the city.
Also, whenever we have a lower demographic of young males, you see a corresponding reduction in violent crime. This demographic ebbs and flows.
*When I was growing, public housing projects were the epicenters of violent street crime. This is still the case. The projects themselves look much prettier than when I was a kid, but the ugliness and violence remains, it's just has a pretty mask.
*How crimes are categorized by police differs location to location. A common tactic to make the crime rate look not as bad is to simply not categorize specific reported crimes as serious has they could be categorized. This is a management tactic used to improve 'results' on paper. Figuring out what the crime rate really is, aside from something like murder or manslaughter, can be really difficult to accurately ascertain. The FBI does a good job collating crime stats, but they're only as good as the stats from local police departments across the country, which are generally distorted by politics and deceitful management practices.
Finally, i'm also referring to the whole country, not just Boston. Boston (area) is in fact in a very envious position compared to many metro areas across the country.
We are fortunate that Boston
We are fortunate that Boston proper is relatively small and doesn't include large swaths of derelict and dangerous areas like Detroit and Chicago.
Horrifying
This sort of thing needs NOT to happen...
Beats them again
Universal Hub beats the "printed" media again, nuth'in in the Boston Globe or Boston Herold as of 09:30 this morning.
only thing boston globe and
only thing boston globe and herald care about is the patriots and anything that relates to more patriots coverage.
Thanks
But to be fair, I suspect they will have much more detailed follow-up stories.
Horrible!
This is horrible. I'm glad she's going to recover but FFS what is this world coming to?
ASSASSINATION ROAD
In the 1960's Annunciation Road was known as ASSASSINATION ROAD. It looks like nothing has changed in 60+ years. Also, what is a 9 year old doing out on the street at 1 AM?
Victim blaming?
Victim blaming?
Actually no kid should be on
Actually no kid should be on the playground at 1 a.m. And, unfortunately, no kid is even safe in their own bedroom, either, for fear of bullets going through their own window. Keep our kids safe and stand up to theses guntoting terrorists.
No. A legitimate question.
Playgrounds close at sunset. Children that age should be in bed. People should absolutely be asking about this stuff. Plenty of people failed to ask in the baby Bella context. While there are plenty of possibly fine explanations, this is an entirely reasonable question for her caretakers.
Wishing the child a speedy recovery.
But that's not why a lot of people are asking
First, as a parent who let once took a pre-schooler bowling at 10 p.m. (back when you could still do that in West Roxbury), I wish to tell people who either don't have kids or who are just Perfect People who Know Everything to back off. Yes, if you make a habit of letting your young kid out late at night all the time, maybe you need to step back a moment. But if you're having family over, or you have a kid who's a natural night owl and it's not a school night, who are you harming? As for the people looking scornfully at this, I can only say: Tough. I can look back now and say the kid turned out just fine.
Yes, Annunciation is not the safest place. But again, if you're with a lot of people, you might think things are under control. On the third hand, none of us have the slightest idea what the situation was early this morning, except the people who were there, and possibly, at this point, the detectives investigating the case. I doubt anybody reading this falls into either of those categories. The rest of you with your rush to judgment are, in fact, victim blaming, and, of course, in a way you would never do if the address were something different.
I dont think perfect knowledge is necessary
to say that 1 AM is pretty late for a 9 year old to be outside. And yup, 10 PM bowling was pretty late for a pre-schooler. The fact that there can always be exceptional circumstances and that people can make their own choices, doesn't mean all choices are equally good and have the same outcomes.
My thoughts and prayers.
Having said that, this is INSANE! We are broken.
Parenting, Anyone?
What is a nine-year-old doing in a playground at one in the morning?!? OR, was there a typo? Is the shooting victim in fact a nineteen-year-old? Either way, the shooting has got to stop!
No typo
She was 9.
As for the parents, I suspect they are feeling horrible. And I'd suggest we wait before rushing to condemn them.
We don't know what happened this morning. I do know there were a lot of people at the site where she was shot - police had to call in a couple of extra officers for crowd control.
Maybe the family had some friends over, it was a nice night, no school the next day, so why not let the girl play on the playground as the parents chatted or whatever. We don't know. But the guilty party here isn't the parents - it's whoever shot this poor little kid.
Exactly!! People shouldn't be
Exactly!! People shouldn't be commenting if they dont know what happened especially if its to judge without knowing what was going on, I was there and helped the little girl, the family was having a family function and there were a few kids playing in the park with adult supervision and more than just one adult watching. All the kids started running and the adult there rushed the kids inside as soon as they heard shots being fired which appeared to be coming from the back side of the playground, even the little girl ran without knwing she had gotten hit then she collapsed but thank god she was consious the whole time and is expected to be ok.
The person or people who shot are the ones who need to be judged,she was just being a kid, it could've happened in during the day as well.
No License
You don't need a license to have a child. Guns don't kill people. People who let their 9 year olds stay out at 1:00am kill people.
Think, pal
Who shot the kid? The parents?
Parents are complicit
Letting your kid stay out at 1:00am, in a high crime area, you're rolling the dice with the kid's life. Regardless of whether it was in Roxbury, Charlestown, or Disneyworld, a 9 year old should not be out at 1:00am. Did the parents pull the trigger? I don't know, but the parents are just as much to blame as whoever did.
Next time you go to church, Arthur
Maybe you should talk to your priest about how much you hate other people?
I doubt that God is buying that $5 in the collection plate for Haiti or your appearance in a specific building at a specific time as an appropriate balance for how much hatred you seem to have in your heart - and how extremely little you seem to be doing to make the world better.
Is this a reference to a previous Arthur post?
If so can you please clarify?
I'm not following where all these religious points are coming from.
Why did you even let this through?
The guy doesn't have an account - can't you just hit the delete button when it comes to this kind of aggressive hatred?
I appreciate Adam's fairly open standards
RE allowing comments.
He's doing a fine job.
I don't think he needs any help whatsoever in deciding what to allow onto his site.
My thoughts are with this poor child and her family.
I'd prefer to hear all viewpoints
I have a ton of respect for Adam's ability as both reporter and site moderator.
For my 2 cents, I'd prefer to hear all sides and angles on something. The delete button should be reserved for extremely nasty or inappropriate comments only.
Otherwise, we all end up in our own echo chamber.
Thanks, but that having been said ...
I deleted a couple of posted comments - and kept a lot more from ever showing up here. People who want to go full-bore racist or full-bore parent blaming, by all means do so - somewhere else.
Keep up the good work, Adam
Your judgement and journo credibility is what makes UH my go-to local news source.
I also appreciate your attempts to allow discourse as much as possible.
No call for you to be 2nd guessed on your decisions.
My thoughts are with this child and her family.
but you let
anonymous comments through. People who's opinion's that may differ from yours are criticized or deleted.
Sorry Adam we may have a different opinion that you.
I find mine to be realistic and honest. You say racist. I say BS.
My comment on this story is what the heck is a 9 year old doing outside in a crime filled playground and area at 1am.
If that's racist then we are all in trouble
Three words
I don't care. Your question got asked by others. Racist posts got deleted or never approved to begin with. You are offended? Again: I don't care.
Month after month of dealing with racist crap from people who have grown bored with the comment sections at the Herald and Globe have turned me into a boring old curmudgeon who no longer cares what anonymous people think. I don't even take much joy anymore in checking off the delete box; it's just one of those things, like remembering to breathe.
But ya know what? The Internet's a great thing. It truly is. Go to this site or this site and set up a blog called Gaffin Sucks. It'll take you under five minutes, I promise. Go to town.
Deleting
Deleting comments that you think are racist and ones that actually are racist can and are often two different things.
Arthur your allegiance to NRA talking points
is commendable. Hey if a 9 year old gets shot or has to die, so what. Hell if 20 first graders have to die then thats the price of "freedom". The icing on the cake is your parental criticism. If only the 9 year old or those Sandy Hook kids had guns none of this would have happened. Trump 2016....
Who mentioned guns?
I never even remotely alluded to saying someone with a gun could have stopped this. I suggested that not letting a 9 year old stay out at 1:00am would have prevented it. I think you're reaching.
Do you remember being nine?
Sometimes kids do things they shouldn't and their parents don't necessarily know. Perhaps she snuck out to hang out with older neighborhood kids or an older sibling.
I was 9
and was asleep for 3+ hours by then.
Wearing your floaties, no doubt
And locked in by fifteen locks. Safety first.
Sorry that your upbringing was so deprived of visits to family on holidays, seeing fireworks displays in the summer, turning out for Patriot's day re enactments, and staying up to ring in the New Year.
Fireworks displays
at 1am? Where?
Maybe not 1 a.m.
But you can certainly see fireworks at midnight over the harbor on New Year's.
Sheesh
An even more thoughtless and heartless comment than usual from this unregistered poster.
It's behind BPD HQ!
BPD headquarters doesn't have a lot of active duty folks working out of there at that time, except for detectives and perhaps night commanders.. nevertheless, where this happened is behind BPD HQ.. the area between BPD and the Alice Taylor housing development is the Southwest Cooridor Park and is well-lit at night... I and many cyclists come through there routinely at night. I"ve seen students - presumably Northeastern kids - playing tennis there at night as well... have seen skateboarders on the basketball court at night as well.
It is conceivable that the parents thought it was a safe place... or at least, not the dangerous place others have described it as.
Shooting a little girl in the
Shooting a little girl in the back... truly reprehensible. I hope that anyone who knows who this gun-toting coward is quickly informs the police.
when its a minority family
that has a child shot, its always bad parenting or too late at night.
when its a white family, boy, the neighborhood has really gone to shit (probably because too many minorities live in or near it now)
cool
Race was mentioned? I didn't
Race was mentioned? I didn't see it. What is the race of the 9 year old girl? I think it's sad that people would rather blame the parents than blame the shooter. But then of course, some people are fanatical about their guns and blame the victim when innocent children and adults are shot. Sadly these people lack compassion for their fellow human beings. Furthermore, if you've read comments from various posts on this site over the years, you would find that there are many people who blame parents for everything... apparently they were angels when they were children who were tucked safely in bed by 7pm and were seen but not heard and were never let out in public. I feel truly horrible for this little girl and her family and wish her a speedy recovery.
race
i was making a general remark, not a remark solely inclusive of the 15 comments on this single article