Imagine winning a game of basketball, and tasting the steel of a pistol as a result. Or feeling the burn of a bullet in your arm, as your car is sprayed from several directions at once. All before the age of 20.
For the past two weeks I’ve been cleaning up trash in Center City alongside South Philly natives. It didn’t take long for me to realize that they live in a completely different Philadelphia than Penn students.
I’ve come to expect these stories from my co-workers — men whose voices, faces, and apparent indifference towards violence personalize the statistics I’m bombarded with weekly in the news. To them this is life. You do what you gotta do to survive.
There’s clearly a serious problem here, and I’m in no position to propose a grand solution. Recently, The Spin has covered two pieces of news directly relating to Philadelphia’s crime problem: Rep. Chaka Fattah’s gun collection at 46th and Market, and Mayor Street’s curfew enforcement . While we can find minor flaws in any initiative, these two are undoubtedly steps in the right direction.
As long as Harrisburg allows for easy access to guns, programs like Fattah’s are crucial to getting guns off the street. The fewer guns, the less likely they’ll be drawn over a basketball game.
And although the thought of earlier curfews may make The Spin’s own Sharon Udasin “queasy,” curfews have proven success. The problem is beyond parental oversight. In 2006, minors made up 24% of homicide victims in South Philly and about 10% of victims in Philadelphia. With the enforcement of curfews and the creation of the Curfew Center–a place where police can take violators until their parents can get them–the homicide rate in minors dropped to 15% in South Philly, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
These statistics are encouraging, but clearly the city has a long way to go. With an upcoming mayoral election, I’m looking forward to seeing comprehensive plans to tackle what is undoubtedly the most tragic situation Philly faces today.
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February 14th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Mike Males, a professor of sociology at The University of California-Santa Cruz states, “City administrations and police departments claim that youth curfews reduce crime, but every time we go in and look at their numbers, we see that They’re wrong,” He goes on to say youth curfews may even increase crime! Hmm, maybe next time you should do some research before disparaging a fellow journalist.
February 14th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
The problem is Philly’s gun laws are linked to the state and since the middle of the state is comprised of the typical NRA members it is doubtful the state will change the law. Unfortunately that leaves Philly with few options including a curfew. Thank you for writing that goes beyond dogs, wine, and leggings.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
This is a completely unprofessional column. It is inappropriate to provide baseless criticisms of a colleague’s works. Have you ever taken a basic statistics class? Don’t you know that correlation does not necessarily imply causation? If you are not prepared to analyze every single factor in the city that could have possibly contributed to a drop in the homicide rate, then you have no credibility when commenting on this issue.
And are you really using the Cristian Science Monitor as a source in what is supposed to be a serious discussion?
February 14th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
The Christian Science Monitor is a fabulous, reputable newspaper, idiot. Talk about baseless criticisms — go back to Jersey.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:07 am
In response to FL: I did not run across Professor Males’ research while writing the article. But I notice he received his Ph.D in “Social Ecology,” a discipline with which I’m unfamiliar. Also, UC Santa-Cruz does not list him as a professor, lecturer, visiting scholar, or affiliated faculty member on their Sociology Department’s website. His studies that I’ve subsequently discovered seem to focus on cities in California - which differ fundamentally from Philadelphia. Thank you for offering an alternative viewpoint.
To Scott Gomez: I have taken a statistics class, and I do know that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Though I do not understand why you so quickly dismiss the Christian Science Monitor - a source universally recognized as credible and quite distinguished.
Thanks for reading.