Community | August 23, 2010 | 105 comments

Venezuela, more deadly than Iraq

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html

Image
UrbanGypsy
CARACAS, Venezuela — Some here joke that they might be safer if they lived in Baghdad. The numbers bear them out.

In Iraq, a country with about the same population as Venezuela, there were 4,644 civilian deaths from violence in 2009, according to Iraq Body Count; in Venezuela that year, the number of murders climbed above 16,000.

Even Mexico’s infamous drug war has claimed fewer lives.

Venezuelans have absorbed such grim statistics for years. Those with means have hidden their homes behind walls and hired foreign security experts to advise them on how to avoid kidnappings and killings. And rich and poor alike have resigned themselves to living with a murder rate that the opposition says remains low on the list of the government’s priorities.

Then a front-page photograph in a leading independent newspaper — and the government’s reaction — shocked the nation, and rekindled public debate over violent crime.

The photo in the paper, El Nacional, is unquestionably gory. It shows a dozen homicide victims strewn about the city’s largest morgue, just a sample of an unusually anarchic two-day stretch in this already perilous place.

While many Venezuelans saw the picture as a sober reminder of their vulnerability and a chance to effect change, the government took a different stand.

A court ordered the paper to stop publishing images of violence, as if that would quiet growing questions about why the government — despite proclaiming a revolution that heralds socialist values — has been unable to close the dangerous gap between rich and poor and make the country’s streets safer.

“Forget the hundreds of children who die from stray bullets, or the kids who go through the horror of seeing their parents or older siblings killed before their eyes,” said Teodoro Petkoff, the editor of another newspaper here, mocking the court’s decision in a front-page editorial. “Their problem is the photograph.”

Venezuela is struggling with a decade-long surge in homicides, with about 118,541 since President Hugo Chávez took office in 1999, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a group that compiles figures based on police files. (The government has stopped publicly releasing its own detailed homicide statistics, but has not disputed the group’s numbers, and news reports citing unreleased government figures suggest human rights groups may actually be undercounting murders).

There have been 43,792 homicides in Venezuela since 2007, according to the violence observatory, compared with about 28,000 deaths from drug-related violence in Mexico since that country’s assault on cartels began in late 2006.

Caracas itself is almost unrivaled among large cities in the Americas for its homicide rate, which currently stands at around 200 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Roberto Briceño-León, the sociologist at the Central University of Venezuela who directs the violence observatory.

That compares with recent measures of 22.7 per 100,000 people in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, and 14 per 100,000 in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. As Mr. Chávez’s government often points out, Venezuela’s crime problem did not emerge overnight, and the concern over murders preceded his rise to power.

But scholars here describe the climb in homicides in the past decade as unprecedented in Venezuelan history; the number of homicides last year was more than three times higher than when Mr. Chávez was elected in 1998.

Reasons for the surge are complex and varied, experts say. While many Latin American economies are growing fast, Venezuela’s has continued to shrink. The gap between rich and poor remains wide, despite spending on anti-poverty programs, fueling resentment. Adding to that, the nation is awash in millions of illegal firearms.

Police salaries remain low, sapping motivation. And in a country with the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere, more than 30 percent a year, some officers have turned to supplementing their incomes with crimes like kidnappings.

But some crime specialists say another factor has to be considered: Mr. Chávez’s government itself. The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.

More than 90 percent of murders go unsolved, without a single arrest, Mr. Briceño-León said. But cases against Mr. Chavez’s critics — including judges, dissident generals and media executives — are increasingly common.

Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda, a state encompassing parts of Caracas, told reporters last week that Mr. Chávez had worsened the homicide problem by cutting money for state and city governments led by political opponents and then removing thousands of guns from their police forces after losing regional elections.

But the government says it is trying to address the problem. It recently created a security force, the Bolivarian National Police, and a new Experimental Security University where police recruits get training from advisers from Cuba and Nicaragua, two allies that have historically maintained murder rates among Latin America’s lowest.

The national police’s overriding priority, said Víctor Díaz, a senior official on the force and an administrator at the new university, is “unrestricted respect for human rights.”

"I’m not saying we’ll be weak,” he said, “but the idea is to use dialogue and dissuasion as methods of verbal control when approaching problems.”

Senior officials in Mr. Chávez’s government say the deployment of the national police, whose ranks number fewer than 2,500, has succeeded in reducing homicides in at least one violent area of Caracas where they began patrolling this year.

Still, human rights groups suggest the new policing efforts have been far too timid. Incosec, a research group here that focuses on security issues, counted 5,962 homicides in just 10 of Venezuela’s 23 states in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, the debate over the morgue photograph published by El Nacional is intensifying, evolving into a broader discussion over the government’s efforts to clamp down on the news outlets it does not control.

The government says the photograph was meant to undermine it, not to inform the public. The authorities are also threatening an inquiry into “Rotten Town,” a video by a Venezuelan reggae singer that shows an innocent child struck down by a stray bullet. For all the government’s protests, the video has spread rapidly across the Internet since its release here this month.

Given the government’s stance in these cases, many here worry it is focusing on the messenger, not the underlying message.

Hector Olivares, 47, waited outside the morgue early one morning this month to recover the body of his son, also named Hector, 21. He said his son was at a party in the slum of El Cercado, on the outskirts of Caracas, when a gunman opened fire.

Mr. Olivares said Hector was the second son he had lost in a senseless murder, after another son was killed four years ago at the age of 22. He said he did not blame Mr. Chávez for the killings, but he pleaded with the president to make combating crime a higher priority.

“We elected him to crack down on the problems we face,” he said. “But there’s no control of criminals on the street, no control of anything.”

_____________________________________________________________

I would like to thank my Venezuelan friend and fellow Currenteer voxaustralis for pointing me to the article.
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105 comments // Venezuela, more deadly than Iraq

  • trut
    • 0
      trut  

    • Venezuela is not a safe place to live or visit, that's what you are getting at, O.K.
      According to the statistics, Nicaragua and Cuba are much much safer, if you wish to vacation in that general area.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      That is part of what this article is about. The second part is that Venezuela has never historically been like this, this has only happened the last few years under Chavez... who has allowed for this break down of law and order and who has done almost nothing to stop it.

      His poor handling of the economy and the nationalizations followed by mismanagement have ruined a once powerful economy. Venezuela is the only South American economy that shrunk in the past few years. He has made enemies of the professional classes by demonizing them, nationalizing their businesses and labeling them enemies of the people...

      Economic hardship is directly related to the rise in crime... and things aren't getting better. This is also related to the fact that the FARC and the Colombian guerrillas have been given refuge in Venezuela by Chavez. No wonder the country is awash in illegal firearms...

    • 1 year ago
  • Omnomynous
    • 0
      Omnomynous  

    • There really isn't enough information there to form an informed idea of just what the problem is. Here I'm sitting in the U.S. and can't make informed decisions on my approval of bills trying to be passed or anything (you know in case I decide to try to help lobby, and the way they word shit don't help either). Everything everywhere is so biased wrapped up in politics and deceit, who do you trust?

      There has got to be at least 10 different theories on why the escalation, and probably close to half of them hold water.

      It's sad but what is the average Current participant supposed to do or be made aware of other than a lot of dead people? I know it sounds cold, but most of us can't help it, and this damn sure doesn't take away from our nations' stupidity in Iraq or Afghanistan.

    • 1 year ago
  • blackheartman
  • keithponder
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • blackheartman:

      Why is it that bringing up the rising crime rate in Venezuela... now more dangerous than Colombia suddenly gets these types of responses/ Criticizing the lack of law and order is not the same as calling for an American invasion.

      Separate the two ideas... one should have nothing to do with the other. Not once was an American invasion called for in the article, and not once has anyone in this thread suggested that.

      What you and many others are doing is putting up a Straw Man that is easy to attack and diverting the debate from the real issue.

      Learn what a Straw Man argument is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

      This is not about calling for an American invasion, this is about how Chavez has allowed for the breakdown of law and order on his watch. Do not change the subject... I know you want to, but I won't let you.

    • 1 year ago
  • Blkwdw
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      Nice straw man. No one has called for an American invasion. This is what you wished his opponents called for because it would make them easier to attack. So far you are arguing against ghosts. Here's what you are doing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

      Address the issue of the article and the fact that Venezuela has become a very violent place... talk about that and stop dodging the issue and stop with the Ad Hominem attacks.

      And before you REPEAT THE SAME THING AGAIN I am going to preempt you.

      The United States may have a higher body count but that is only because it is a more populous country. If Venezuela and the United States had the same population, Venezuela would have the higher body count. Venezuela is more violent than the United States the statistics show it and the higher crime rate shows it. Sorry to be bursting your bubble.

      Venezuela with its high violent crime rate IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE UNITED STATES and IRAQ for that matter. Numbers and deaths do not lie...

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • keithponder
    • 0
      keithponder  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Chavez is not the subject either, although you desperately want it to be.. Crime , violence and murder is the story. Readers can interpret the contents of this story for ourselves.

      We are free thinkers,not your puppets.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • -1
      keithponder  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      No one has called for an American invasion. This is what you wished his opponents called for because it would make them easier to attack. So far you are arguing against ghosts
      ___________________________________________________________________

      Dude, I'm against a pattern of deception that our government controlled media has been using for over 100 years to get what the government wants.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      I am also against that pattern of deception Keith. And when it comes right down to it I think that Chavez must be at the bottom of this. The drastic rise in violent crime in Venezuela has occurred under his watch or is he not responsible for the safety of Venezuelan citizens?

      And look... I am not saying that Venezuela is more violent than some places like Somalia, Nigeria, Congo, etc. These places are not the topic (perhaps you want to talk about the Congo? Then upload a post or article that talks about the issue, I'm sure it will be very informing).

      The topic is about how under Chavez' watch many of these things have come to pass. Why am I reporting this? Why does JanForGore report about environmental issues? Why does Current89 report about US Politics?

      I wanted to make it known what is going on in Venezuela. And as you may know, I have no love for Hugo Chavez, I happen to think that he is running Venezuela into the ground. Why do I care so much? Because I live in Miami, which is awash with people leaving Venezuela because of how things are getting; many of my closest friends are Venezuelans who feel strongly about what is going on. I care because I see Venezuela taking the same course that my native Cuba took; the course of falling for a demagogue that will ruin the country... all while professing to do it for the good of "the people."

      I'll leave it at that.

    • 1 year ago
  • bking74
    • -1
      bking74  
    • blackheartman:

      Venezuela has plenty of oil and thats always a great excuse for an invasion. Also, thanks to the U.S imposed arms embargo, Venezuela's military is lacking any modern weapon systems. Venezuela's Military could be eliminated in less then 48 hours. The Columbians would more then happy to help us invade Venezuela and would make the perfect proxy ground forces. I am getting tired of fighting in the rocky, lunar land scape of the mountains of Logar and Wardak and would love to fight in the lush jungles of Venezuela for a change of scenery.

    • 1 year ago
  • Omnomynous
    • 0
      Omnomynous  
    • bking74:

      With all due respect is "would love to fight " anywhere, the kind of mentality the American people you are supposed to be fighting for and your employers would like you to have?

      Loving to fight, is not what a great many American people want to hear right now. "Fighting" people is not fun, cool, or the desired outcome of any conflict, and although the U.S. government has ignored this fact; fighting is the last resort, and not something that should be loved.

      From a mental health standpoint that ideology there of loving to fight is about disturbing, it is reprehensible for a government to willfully deploy soldiers who have that mentality when they have other options, prepared is one thing loving is quite different.

      Do the rest of us a favor, go seek professional mental treatment before you become a danger to yourself and those around you.

    • 1 year ago
  • bking74
    • 0
      bking74  
    • Omnomynous:

      Omnomynous, the comment was meant to be sarcastic. I will admit that it was done in extremely bad taste. I spend so much time attempting to present the Military and Conservatives in a more positive light that sometimes I just get the urge to post something completely absurd. In the future I should refrain from posting sarcastic, inflammatory comments because it is far to easy for people to take them out of context and believe that is what I truly believe. You mention the America people not wanting to hear "Loving to Fight" suggesting that the American public is wary of the violence of the last nine years. I agree with you, but what you might not be aware of is that the majority of us (U.S Military) are tired of fighting and carry on because of a sense of duty and dedication to our unit ,battle brothers and country.
      I made a joke. The joke may have been in bad taste but I have earned the right to feel a morbid sense of gallows humor when it comes to war. I have spent the last decade of my life in service to this country and about to leave for my fourth deployment in less then a month.
      I appreciate your concern for my mental health but I assure I am doing as well as can be expected. There are many veterans who are returning home, who are damaged and badly need access to proper mental health care. If you truly care about the mental well being of our returning service members you can volunteer at your local VA center or donate a small amount of money to your local Veteran Relief Fund.

    • 1 year ago
  • blackheartman
    • 0
      blackheartman  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      I know what a straw man argument is and I can see through you like a soggy piece of toilet paper. This Chavez bashing is nothing more than painting him as the enemy. Another "bad man" that the US MUST bring to justice....just like Saddaam, just like Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il. You can't get the american public behind an invasion unless they can self-righteously feel like they're ridding the world of evil (yeah, try looking in the mirror).

      Don't try to hide behind your pathetic pleas of enlightenment: "Oh. I'm just trying to show everyone what it's really like down in Venezuela."

      You clearly have an agenda, to bash Chavez and anyone who doesn't see him as the "evil doer" that you do.

      "I am not asking you to do anything, I only ask that you and others stop your blind worship of Hugo Chavez."

      Enough said.

    • 1 year ago
  • voxaustralis
    • 0
      voxaustralis  
    • blackheartman:

      there is no plea to get the American public to support a Venezuelan invasion urbangypsy is not calling for that no one is this is an article to show how this problem is affecting Venezuelan society and has been exacerbated during the government of Hugo Chavez.

      everyone is entitled to their own opinions about political leaders i respect that although with many of them i will always disagree but some people take it to an extreme that they assume they know more than the people that are exposed to the regime in venezuela or have done some unbiased research of the situation in the country the majority of the people here that defend Chavez use venezuelanalysis a a source of information little do they know that that website is sponsored by the Venezuelan government and the bolivarian institutions created by Chavez or they see the few fake social programs that Chavez has strategically putted in high density areas in Caracas o or near the airports to show how good his bolivarian revolutions is instead of going to Petare and other places where things are worst than before

      if you say you can read his agenda like a soggy piece of toilet paper then your have a severe vision problem by the comment you seem to understand that the Americans will invade a country because they self righteously believe that is for the "good of the world" to get rid of "evil "but you clearly don't understand that diplomacy and foreign policy is dictated by personal interest of the politicians in power.

      the Venezuelan agenda has two sides just like a coin chavez allays talks about the empire out to get him yet Venezuela's #1 costumer for crude oil is the US and they sell it to the US at a cheaper price it is hypocrisy what chavez is doing

      just so you I am Venezuelan and socialist i hate Chavez he is an insult to the modern left and has ruined my country and the potential it has and also i hate the opposition their incompetence is the reason Chavez is in power.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • blackheartman:

      blackheart... you truly are a tool. You are no different than the people in state security back in my native Cuba who harassed my father for belonging to a civil rights group. Apparently for them there was no difference between criticizing the lack of essential civil rights of speech, press, etc and being a traitor, mercenary, or "imperialist" who deserved to be thrown in jail.

      You are no different from them.... but it is okay, I have seen your kind before.

      You profess to see through me "like a soggy piece of toilet paper" and yet you know absolutely nothing about who I am or where I have been or what I have experienced in my life to make me believe the things that I do or hold the political views I hold.

      People like you, with your misrepresentations, intentional simplifications, and with the conviction that you know everything, including my "real agenda" are the problem in this world. We need less people like you around... all you do is dumb down the debate.

      If you weren't a complete ideologue or cynic perhaps you would be able to separate my criticism of Chavez and his poor handling of the crime situation in Venezuela from the idea of calling for an American invasion. If you had anything more than a neuron in your brain you would be able to recognize that saying one thing does not necessarily equal the other...

      And yet you and others continue to misrepresent my positions and swear that you know my true intentions. Do me a favor and stop trying to read my mind... because you are doing a very poor job.

    • 1 year ago
  • ahiguy
    • 0
      ahiguy  
    • blackheartman:

      Chavez is a megalomaniac despot, a self-serving pathological narcissist, and definitely a champion of oppression and an enemy of freedom.
      What skin do you have in this game?
      ... so why your blind worship of his highness 'Emperor Chavez'?

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
  • EmperorThan
  • AsiaSuperLoop
    • +2
      AsiaSuperLoop  

    • The Cultural Recolution in China (1966-1976) was an ambitious social experiment that went badly wrong, resulting in social dislocation and freeing up local governments to engage in that great gift of autonomy, namely, corruption. Criminal violations soared. However, there was a grand social purpose, some hypothesis of how to make social life more fair and utopian.

      What is the grand hypothesis that can justify the disintegration of Venezuela?

      The left / right debate died in my view quite some time ago. The new debate must be more tightly drawn. It must be focused on resource management. The vocabulary of political ideology needs expansion.

      How effective has Chavez been in managing the resources of Venezuela? Has he altered fundamentally the mechanisms of resource exploitation?

      The debate itself should be re-framed. The potential for social engineering is today greater than ever before.

    • 1 year ago
  • voxaustralis
    • 0
      voxaustralis  

    • is sad to see all the people that decided to scan this article instead of reading it and looked for key words to manipulate this discussion into their own insane ideology driven interpretation what this article is about is how the situation in Venezuela has deteriorated in the last 11 years but the blame does not go 100% to this current fossilized moronic modern left insult of a gov., before Chavez came to power the murder and crime rate was a growing threat because of the failure of the previous governments especially in the 80's where the prosperity of high oil prices ended for Venezuela and poverty levels began to rise.

      what i really hate is that many of the left wing persons that comment on this article defend and glorify Hugo Chavez and his government just because he is left-wing lets get the facts right before actually witting something we have to admit that the lack part of the blame to this rise in crime in Venezuela. a rise in poverty is the catalyst for this increase in insecurity if the bolivarian revolution has failed to solve the problems of the Venezuelan society instead of creating opportunities for the poor to improve themselves Chavez has manipulated Venezuelan society planting the seeds of hate and conflict his antique ideological views with the nationalizations have crumbled the Venezuelan economy thus creating this massive increase in crime and murder.

    • 1 year ago
  • insaintity
  • UrbanGypsy
  • keithponder
  • KSirys
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • Image

    • After the newspaper El Nacional published these photos of the largest morgue in Caracas and the report of the country's crime rate Hugo Chavez' government ordered the newspaper to stop publishing the pictures.

      They argued that the report was meant to "discredit the government"...

      And these are the words of the government that is being defended by people on this thread? I hope I never see anyone here complaining about how our government bans news sources from showing images of the Gulf Spill, because to see people do this would be hypocrisy of the worst kind.

      I shudder at the mere thought of the public outrage that would be unleashed if our government justified the censorship of a newspaper with such a sorry excuse as "they tried to discredit the government"...

    • 1 year ago
  • NorwegianHammer
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • NorwegianHammer:

      It is wrong that our government censors pictures of dead soldiers coming home. But the irony is that Chavez' government... a government admired by many on the left here in this country, does the same thing... with pictures of dead civilians.

      The crime rate in Venezuela is unprecedented in the country's history. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Venezuela has become a safe haven for the guerrillas and the drug barons that have been driven away from Colombia and have found a friend in Hugo Chavez across the border.

      Here is some fresh news you don't hear every day... something Current likes to say it is about.

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      As I mentioned below, the source that you provided are from statistics from the period of 1998-2000. We need something a little more recent. Perhaps if you read the New York Times article you would get an idea of what things are like right now.

      But you didn't read it. You read the title, internalized the topic as something that goes against your pre-conceived notions of reality and blindly entered into attack mode.

    • 1 year ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • I just received this week's edition of The Economist in the mail, and they have a long article on this topic too -- including the picture of all the bodies in that morgue. Gruesome. I don't advocate U.S. involvement in regime change (other than protesting human rights violations in international fora), but Hugo's continued thugocracy is bearing the expected fruit. I would expect that the reaction will be an even more intensive crackdown on civil liberties in the name of putting down the violence. Hugo will hang on until he has done maximum damage to Venezuelan society.

    • 1 year ago
  • Blkwdw
  • UrbanGypsy
  • voxaustralis
    • 0
      voxaustralis  
    • Blkwdw:

      you are basically eating from the lies of the Venezuelan gov. by using venezuelanalysis as a source ... just like Shawn Penn believing everything that Chavez showed to him.

    • 1 year ago
  • ezrierin
    • 0
      ezrierin  

    • I say we send in the troops, get ride of Hugo Chavez, put up a puppet government that gives all the oil to US oil firms, then start nation building like in Iraq! I mean look how successful we have been there?
      Yes, that was sarcasm.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • ezrierin:

      Ezri... no one has suggested that. Showing Venezuela for what it actually is is NOT the same as calling for an American invasion. I consider you a smart enough person to see that by yourself.

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      No. I only post this up to inform people about what is actually happening in Venezuela. I am not asking you to do anything, I only ask that you and others stop your blind worship of Hugo Chavez.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
  • keithponder
  • Nephwrack
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  

    • I'm taking a stance after Pinochet no American newspaper, government should ever talk about anything referring to south america. Ever!
      Leave it them to solve it or let a country like norway help them but keep any type of American interference out even if it claims to be altruistic.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • RaceBannon:

      Race... Pinochet's dictatorship should in no way justify any left wing dictator. The hypocrisy that I find in many people on the left is that they like to denounce dictatorships... as long as they involve right-wing dictators.

      However, I always find silence when abuses and poor governance is done by someone on the left who they consider their own or if it involves any demagogue who professes to do things for "the people."

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      Take a good look at your source. You are off by a few years...

      SOURCE: Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
  • keithponder
    • +1
      keithponder  
    • Image

    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

      Crime in the United States
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      The U.S. has only 5% of the worlds population but commits 25% of the crimes.
      __________________________________________________________________

      (August 2010)
      Crime statistics for the United States are published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Uniform Crime Reports which represents crimes reported to the police. The Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts the annual National Crime Victimization Survey which captures crimes not reported to the police.
      The country's overall crime rate is displayed in two indices. The violent crime index comprises homicide, forcible rape, robbery and assault. The property crime index consists of burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Statistics for index offenses are generally available for the country as a whole, all fifty states and all participating communities within the United States. For example, Dallas is mentioned as having one of the highest crime rates in the nation. This indicator is important in demonstrating this statistic and understanding the intricacies of crime in Dallas. As noted above, “the crime rate” as reported in the news media typically refers to a combination of violent crime and property crime. In 2002, Dallas reportedly had 17,018 crimes, and 15,429 in 2005. However, in Dallas, as in many other cities, property crime accounts for the majority of offences, while “the crime rate" is frequently interpreted as the rate of violent crime.
      The crime rate is measured by the number of offenses being reported per 100,000 people. While the crime rate had risen sharply in the late 1960s and early 1970s, bringing it to a constant all-time high during much of the 1980s, it has declined steeply since 1993. One hypothesis suggests a causal link between legalized abortion and the drop in crime during the 1990s.[1] Another possibility sometimes suggested is the introduction of the Three Strikes Law, which was first passed by Washington state in 1993, providing that felony offenders who committed a third offence receive life imprisonment. Other states that passed Three Strikes Laws include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, Arkansas, Georgia, and Maryland. Research has not borne out this speculation however. In a 2005 policy brief, An examination of the impact of 3-Strike laws 10 years after their enactment, Justice Policy Institute reported that analysis of ten years of FBI Uniform Crime Report data found that Three Strikes states fared no better than states that did not adopt strikes laws. The largest non-strike state, New York, experienced a 53.9% decrease in violent crime from 1993-2002. The largest strike state, California, experienced a 44.9% decrease in violent crime during the same years. Strike states had slightly better declines in serious crime rates (26.8% vs. 22.3%) driven by slightly greater declines in property crime (25.9% vs. 20.4%). Non-strike states had marginally better declines in violent crime (34.3% vs. 33.0%) and greater declines in homicides (43.9% vs. 38.2%).
      In 2004 America's crime rate was roughly the same as in 1970, with the homicide rate being at its lowest level since 1965. Overall, the national crime rate was 4982 crimes per 100,000 residents, down from 4852 crimes per 100,000 residents thirty years earlier in 1974 (-17.6%).[2]
      The likelihood of committing and falling victim to crime also depends on several demographic characteristics, as well as location of the population. Overall, men, minorities, the young, and those in financially less favorable positions are more likely to be crime victims, as well as commit crimes.[3] Crime in the US is also concentrated in certain areas.
      It is quite common for crime in American cities to be highly concentrated in a few, often economically disadvantaged areas. For example, San Mateo County, California had a population of approximately 707,000 and 17 homicides in 2001. 6 of these 17 homicides took place in poor, largely Black and Hispanic East Palo Alto, which had a population of roughly 30,000. So, while East Palo Alto accounted for a mere 4.2% of the population, about one-third of the homicides took place there.[4] According to the FBI, in 2008 14,180 people were murdered in America.[5]
      Ira M. Leonard has calculated that during the 20th century, more Americans were murdered by fellow Americans than soldiers died on active duty during the First World War, Second World War, Korean War and the Vietnam War combined.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +2
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      Again, thank you for diverting the conversation from the issue at hand Keith. This article is about Venezuela, not about the United States... which by the way, has a lower crime rate than Venezuela.

      The only reason I can come up with for your comments is to try to diver the subject because you cannot fathom that Chavez' Socialist Paradise is everything but...

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • +1
      keithponder  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      No. This also is an article about crime and your hate for Hugo Chavez, so you before you try to convince everybody that Venezuela is the most dangerous place on the planet, I am well within my rights and the contents of your post to remind you and anyone that reads this propaganda that we probably first should consider trying to keep the focus on where it matters the most. America. I can post 1,000 photos of American people draped over coffins crying over dead loved ones just to try and convince readers just how bad things are here in this country. That's all this article is really doing.

      25% of the crime on this huge planet is committed right here in the United States of America. Don't you think that we need to try to clean up our own yard first and stop meddling in the affairs of others. That's what I've always been taught.

      No one's ever told you that before ? Huh ? Haven't they ?

    • 1 year ago
  • pandaman2105
    • +1
      pandaman2105  
    • keithponder:

      whoa dude, no one is trying to convince anyone that Venezuela is the most dangerous place on the planet. If you haven't been aware recently, Ciudad Juarez is the site of the most violence from the Mexican drug problem, it was declared the most violent place on earth (ask for some proof, i'll give it to you). This is just some other truth that needs to be known, truth that Hugo Chavez has hid from the world.

      Is it really so wrong for someone to hate Hugo Chavez? I detect that you find it weird, as if the general population has some great respect for him and UrbanGypsy is the political outcast...

      America has issues, we're well aware, but Venezuela majorly has issues too that aren't being made better by Chavez, I believe that's all this is pointing out, not much else.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +2
      UrbanGypsy  
    • pandaman2105:

      Panda, I hope you take a good look and see how it is that people respond when someone who they consider one of their own comes under criticism. I will always like Current, but it is no secret that there are certain things that are considered sacred by people here on Current.

      Chavez is one such thing. Any criticism of him gets these types of responses. I expected them when I posted this article up.

    • 1 year ago
  • CarlosIsDown
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  
    • pandaman2105:

      I concur. Evil is evil and needs to be fought everywhere, not one country at a time. Government tyranny is wrong whether the government doing the tyranny is a dictatorship or not. Chavez is a tyrant.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  
    • cztheday:

      That's exactly what I'm saying! This is about a major social issue that is everywhere, but worse and passively going unresolved under Chavez in Venezuela.

      Some here clearly don't get it. This article mentions nothing about our possible involvement or our own issues. It is Venezuela, it is Hugo Chavez, it is a problem, it is just that...nothing more. It is meant to inform, place light onto the reality of a regime that tries all that it can to hide everything that it does that is known to be horrific and wrong.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • +1
      keithponder  
    • pandaman2105:

      whoa dude, no one is trying to convince anyone that Venezuela is the most dangerous place on the planet.
      __________________________________________________________________

      whoa back dude, that's exactly what the gypsy is trying very hard to do. Do not try to tell me about who or what Chavez is trying to hide behind, until you can explain to me how and why the CEO and founder of Wikileaks was indicted on trumpt up charges for exposing the lies that YOUR very own government are hiding behind in the wake of showing the world how innocent Iraqi civilians being murdered by American soldiers from the sky like a modern day turkey shoot. Over 1 million Iraqi women and children lost their lives to kill first American soldiers and private security contractors over the past 5 years, so until you can explain why, I really don't want to hear a damn thing about Hugo Chavez. The American media told the same lies on Saddam Hussein. No weapons of mass destruction ? oops. Well since he's dead, we'll just take over the country's oil distribution.

      Watch out Hugo. You know the drill.

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
  • Blkwdw
    • +4
      Blkwdw  

    • When I went to VZ one thing the people made clear our media doesn't tell the truth maybe out of ignorance but I've been there and have friends still living there working and they say these stories are completely untrue it was very peaceful, now robberies on the other hand.... especially of tourists.

    • 1 year ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  
    • Blkwdw:

      Perhaps...but the source for most of the material in article in The Economist (a periodical published in Britain) that pretty much mirrors the conclusions in this one from the NY Times comes from Venezuelan newspapers, college professors and sundry politicians in-country.

    • 1 year ago
  • voxaustralis
    • 0
      voxaustralis  
    • Blkwdw:

      there are certain sections of Caracas and Venezuela that are "more safe" because of security most of them are closed communities or houses that hire some sort of vigilance but the situation is very bad although most of the murders and crimes come from the poorest zones some of then crawl into the other zones( the robberies and kidnappings are more common in the middle to upper class neighborhoods) , I think is very naive of you to question that the media this and many other articles based observations of the situation the fact that the government sent a court order banning the newspaper El Nacional tells you that the country is far from peaceful.

    • 1 year ago
  • Blkwdw
    • 0
      Blkwdw  
    • voxaustralis:

      You don't understand i have been there and before i was even really aware of the politics and media concerning Chavez, I was explicitly told American media is not accurate. Yes there is much violence but my point is the poor people support their president. I still have educated American friends who live their who are far from naive.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
  • Blkwdw
    • 0
      Blkwdw  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      There is just one thing I am really saying 1. The poor and working people of VZ support Chavez. I was specifically told the US media is not accurate. is there alot of violence probably there was military and the police working for two different entities and both were visibly armed with automatic assault guns, but what is really CAUSING the violence is the ?

    • 1 year ago
  • Blkwdw
    • 0
      Blkwdw  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      What about Somaila, the Congo, Nigeria, Brasil (get some news outta that country) & Sudan? all these countries have extremely high murder rates. So whats the point of the post. We have tibbits of info about a serious problem in a particular country what now? Are you offering something other than just posting an article have you been there know anyone living there?

    • 1 year ago
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  
    • Blkwdw:

      I am not challenging the fact that you were told that the U.S. media is not accurate. That doesn't necessarily mean that the U.S. media really IS inaccurate but rather that the person who told you that holds that opinion that it is inaccurate. He/she may be right, or he/she may be wrong. One thing IS certain, the "U.S. media" is not a single entity. The big media groups are in competition with each other, and at the merest inkling that one of their competitors is getting the story wrong, another media group will happily tear at that competitor like a frenzy of piranha.

      But I don't rely on the U.S. media for my knowledge of Chavez anyway. I read The Economist out of Great Britain and Le Monde out of France, and I have been following the stories on Chavez for a decade or more. The picture I get of Venezuela is that the people are by and large hard-working and industrious. They have to be in order to survive. At one time, I think that a majority of them really did support Chavez. But in the absence of a completely (or at least nearly completely) free and open election, there is no way for me or anybody else -- including the people of Venezuela -- to know that for certain. The people in VZ are just like people anywhere else. They can speak with authority about the prevailing opinion among their family and friends and perhaps even their community or district. But when you get much beyond that, opinion turns to speculation.

      However, even if the majority of the people of Venezuela really DO support Chavez, those of us who think he is wrong for that country are just as entitled to our opinion of Chavez as anybody else, including the majority of Venezuelans, so long as we don't exhort our leaders to interfere with Venezuela's internal politics. I have opinions about many world leaders, as I am sure you do. We form the most educated opinions we can about them regardless of who agrees or disagrees with those opinions and we move on. A good example to me is Berlusconi (spelling?), the Prime Minister of Italy. He has been elected and reelected by the majority of Italians, but it is hard to find anybody outside of Italy who does not think he is a total disaster. He doesn't become competent or honest just because his countrymen think so.

    • 1 year ago
  • Blkwdw
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  

    • good post :)

      what also should put something into perspective is how it is worse than the violence in Mexico!
      if that is less than this and Iraq is less than this, your mind must be consciously impenetrable to pass it off as nothing.
      it's a social and lethal issue that needs to be solved just like other violence and war, meaning war is unnecessary and must be discontinued as well.

    • 1 year ago
  • nkeg87
    • 0
      nkeg87  

    • Thanks Urban for posting. I never heard things like this were happening in Venezuela. Ive heard it was bad there but only because of government censorship and such.

      And you're right. Its all about what the media wants to talk about.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • +2
      keithponder  

    • Sounds to me someone ( American media) is just trying to justify an attempt to try and rob him of his oil then murder Hugo Chavez the same way that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield did Saddam Hussein. What's the body count in the United States every year ? It's probably higher than both Iraq's an Venezuela combined because the number of murders do not necessarily equal the per capita murder rate.. I wouldn't doubt it if Pat Robertson has something to do with this story.

      Numbers lie sometimes.

    • 1 year ago
  • toyotabedzrock
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      The body count may be higher but that is only because the United States is a country of 300 million people... Venezuela is a country of 28 million Keith.

      Take the report for what it is. Nobody is justifying an invasion of Venezuela, these are your words. The purpose of the article to is to show how the crime rate in Venezuela has climbed thanks to the negligence of Chavez' government.

      I predicted comments like this as soon as I posted the article. it seems that people here are unwilling to see the faults of a government which they consider one of their own because Chavez happens to be a leftist.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
  • keithponder
    • +1
      keithponder  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      You're wrong about that for more reasons than one, and no one can even try to debate the fact the 2,500,000 men, women and children that died in the Iraq were needless deaths. A vast majority of these people were actually murdered by American soldiers and private military contractors, and please don't try to tell me that it was for the price of freedom. IT WAS AN INVASION FOR THE CONTROL IF IRAQ'S OIL PRODUCTION.

      I guess since Chavez doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction, you've got to come up with something to justify another invasion, but please don't insult me with the contents of this sham of a story because you and I both know that people in America don't give a damn about anything in Venezuela but their oil.

      Cut the crap.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      I think that the real reason that you are not taking about the issue at hand is because you want to avoid the topic. Chavez' Socialist Paradise is far from it. That is why you are trying to downplay the issue by talking about the United States.

      I provided some sources on the civilian body count in Iraq. Provide some credible sources before you start talking about the inflated body count in Iraq. The reality is that 4,664 died in Iraq in 2009, but by the way the media reports it in this country you'd think it was hundreds of thousands.

      Get a grip on reality... read and become informed.

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
    • 0
      trut  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Urbangypsy advocates an invasion and occupation of Venezuela Iraq style. He gives the number of Iraqi murders as a high point of how an American attack would actually benefit the average Venezuelan citizen.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      trut you only have put words in my mouth. You prove my point again. Again, that is what you wish I had said, that way I can be the target you have always wanted me to be... that way you can easily do away with me.

      Is it too much for your mind to fathom that I am criticizing Chavez' governance in Venezuela and NOT be advocating for an American invasion? Apparently the two ideas cannot be separated by your brain.

      I imagine you wish I said those things... but I didn't. Nice try...

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      Again, putting words in my mouth and diverting people off the topic. Typical of Current unfortunately. It is hard for you to imagine anyone criticizing Chavez who is not advocating for an American invasion...

      For your information, I was against the Iraq War and I voted against Bush, and I also voted for Obama. Nice try, but you are not going to pigeonhole me into something you and your unimaginative friends can easily attack.

      Try again and talk about the article instead of trying to concentrate on discrediting me.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Agreed. I have no desire for the U.S. to become involved. Even if doing so would benefit the country in the long run, we would be pilloried in the press, and we lack the treasure and manpower to do so in any event. The fundamental farce underlying his administration is that he boasts that no other man or woman in VZ could possibly move the country forward but Hugo Chavez. If that is really the case then he should have no objection to regular, free and open elections. But of course that is NOT the case. To the contrary, as country after country around the world has learned, new blood, new ideas and new perspectives are critically important to the long-term health of a nation.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • cztheday:

      Thank you for your brave comments.

      Hugo Chavez' idol Simon Bolivar said it best himself:

      "The continuation of authority in a single individual has frequently been the downfall of democratic governments. Repeated elections are essential in popular systems, because nothing is more dangerous than allowing the same citizen to remain in power over a long period of time. The people become accustomed to obeying him, and he becomes accustomed to commanding them; this is how power is usurped and tyranny takes root. The freedom of the Republic must be jealously safeguarded, and our citizens should justly fear that the same magistrate who has governed them for many years might come to rule them for ever...."

    • 1 year ago
  • ahiguy
    • 0
      ahiguy  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Fear not the foolish comments UrbanG, any one who reads this thread with even a minute bit of common sense can see this is a 'trap' to suck you into their 'realm" - which is not at all relevant to that of your concerns regarding the high incidents of murders rates in Venezuela, in portion of a country supposedly at peace in proportion to that of one at war.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • keithponder
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  
    • keithponder:

      Keith you are a MASTER of dodging issues. A country of 300 million people obviously has a higher body count. If Venezuela, with its HIGHER crime rate had the same population as the United States, it would be VENEZUELA and NOT the United States who would have the higher body count.

      What this means is that Venezuela is MORE VIOLENT than the United States. Is that too hard for you to understand? Sadly I think it is...

      Can I make it clearer to your small brain or do I have to repeat it again?

      I don't think that you don't understand... I think that you are CHOOSING to ignore what I am saying. You tell me to stop crying? How is being concerned for the high crime rate in Venezuela crying?

      If you don't care about Venezuela the what the hell are you doing commenting on this article? Oh I know why... you don't like when they criticize your boy Hugo Chavez.

      You care nothing about the crime rate in Venezuela... all you care about is Chavez.

    • 1 year ago
  • trut
    • -1
      trut  

    • 4644 deaths in Iraq, You have got to be kidding. Pure propaganda. More police on the streets seems to be the answer in Venezuela, man that sucks.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
  • trut
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +1
      UrbanGypsy  
    • trut:

      Thank you for putting words in my mouth. I have never downplayed the events in Iraq. My purpose is to show how things in Venezuela are even worse. Do you have anything to say about Venezuela or are you only here to divert attention from the issue at hand?

    • 1 year ago
  • oppressed1
    • 0
      oppressed1  
    • trut:

      Iraq isnt that dangerous right now dude. We havnt lost a soldier because of a combat related death in months. If you blow up 50 civilains every couple weeks it comes out to around 4644. You need to get youre fact straight before you talk shit. My buddy just got with 15 months in Iraq and never fire his weapon once, and hes cav.

    • 1 year ago
  • UrbanGypsy
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