A Culture of Death? (printable)

Topic: Gun Control
A Culture of Death?

Justifiable homicides were up in 2007, but does that statistic tell the whole story?
by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Thursday, October 16, 2008

USAToday is reporting that according to FBI statistics, justifiable homicides - which they define as a person being killed during the commission of a felony - have been on the rise for two years, and were up to 254 in 2007 - the highest rate since 1997.

Northeastern University criminal justice professor James Alan Fox says it is evidence of an emerging "shoot first" mentality, while Alfred Blumstein, a Carnegie Mellon University criminologist blames the "legalization movement" for creating a "greater willingness" for citizens to act in defense of self or others.

It is true that the "Castle Doctrine," which does away with the requirement that a person must try to escape a home invader before they use deadly force, showed increased popularity in 2006 and 2007, having been passed in 19 states.

Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, is, not surprisingly, critical of the doctrine, saying, "Do we want to kill every 16-year-old kid we find stealing a car stereo?"

Sally Slovenski, executive director of Freedom States Alliance, a group that describes its impossible mission as "working to free Americans from gun violence," warned that the "whole Wild West mentality that is leading the country down a very dangerous path. In any other country, something like the castle doctrine or stand-your-ground laws look like just absolute lunacy, and yet in this country, somehow it's been justified, and people just sort of have come to live with this, and they just don't see the outrage in this."

What exactly is the outrage? Frankly, I'm more outraged that people think they can just break into other people's houses - take anything they want, assault them, or even rape them - than I am that their victims have been defending themselves. I mean, these homicides are justified. Perhaps we could be a little more concerned with why people are committing felonies than we are about why people are protecting themselves from it.

Still, focusing on only one side of the equation - justifiable homicide - is like watching a 3D movie with one eye closed - you don't get the whole picture.

To get the whole picture, one must also look at the crime statistics. CNN, also quoting FBI statistics, found that in the same year that these self-defense killings were on the rise, violent crimes dropped "in all major categories," after two years of increased rates. Other crime trended downward, as well:

Violent crime overall dropped 1.4%
Personal property crime dropped 2.1%
Arson dropped 7%
Murder dropped 2.4%
Forcible rape dropped 4.3%
Aggravated assault dropped 1.2%
Robbery dropped 1.2%

It's also interesting to note that in cities with over a million residents, murder rates dropped ten percent. That's huge.

So, yes, maybe justifiable homicides are up, but the crimes that require them are down. To me, this is a good trend.

The views expressed in this article are those of RS Davis only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. RS Davis is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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Topic: Gun Control A Culture of Death? Justifiable homicides were up in 2007, but does that statistic tell the whole story?by RS Davis (libertarian) Thursday, October 16, 2008

Topic: Gun Control
A Culture of Death?

Justifiable homicides were up in 2007, but does that statistic tell the whole story?
by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Thursday, October 16, 2008