Interview: The Surge in Crime in Kansas City
The Surge in Crime in Kansas City
The surge in crime in Kansas City can be controlled through the provision of quality education, creation of jobs, and coordination between parents, schools, business and religious education. Quality education would help many get decent jobs and escape poverty; at the same time, parents, business and religious organizations need to instill good morals as well as provide jobs and fund resource centers. The interviewee was the managing director of Missouri Commission on Violent Crimes. The following are the questions he was asked during the interview.
Questions
- What are the main causes of crime in Kansas City?
- What should schools do to reduce the crime rates in Kansas City?
- Do you think the police are doing enough to counter crime in this city? What else should they do?
- What is the place of parents in addressing the crime rates in Kansas City?
- What advice do you have for churches and other religious organizations on matters of crime?
- Is the gun control policy to blame for escalating crime in Kansas City?
- Which are groups or gender commonly engages in crime?
- What role can the business community play to curb crime?
- Does drug abuse facilitate increase in crime? That abuse of drugs makes one skewed in making wrong decisions
- Does peer pressure facilitate increase in crime?
Summary of the Discussion
Historically, Kansas City is known to take the leading position in terms of crime and violence in America. The managing director of Missouri Commission further explained that “lack of employment makes many people live in poverty and so resort to crime to sustain their lives”. Many young people are desperate for jobs in Kansas City. The high level of unemployment makes people idle; as a result, they resort to stealing as the only way to get money. Further, education policies have led to many school drop outs. When students drop out of school, they cannot hope for a descent living and thus engage in crime at some point in their lives. Kansas City also has people who lack housing. This means that they often end up living in the streets as homeless people. Some of the homeless individuals fall into crime when live gets tough on them. The interviewee said that he police often arrest many criminals who later confess to be homeless and live in the streets. The levels of poverty have also brought desperation in many homes in Kansas City. In order to cope with live pressures, people have always resorted to suicides hence increasing the levels of homicide cases in Kansas City.
The managing director of Missouri Commission on Violent Crimes thinks that schools have a role in empowering young people with professional and life skills needed to succeed in the world. For this reason, the education needs to be quality so as to better equip the students for their professional lives (MCVC, 2016). Further, students who are not able to cater for their tuition fees need to be considered for scholarships so as to increase the number of educated youths in Kansas City. According to the managing director of Missouri Commission on Violent Crimes, many school drop-outs fall into crime because they are ill prepared for sustainable lives. Programs to inform students of alternative live patterns need to be carried out in schools. The youths should to be informed of other ways of survival apart from jobs. These alternatives will help the young people to get busy and eliminate the temptation of falling into crime. The alternative life scenarios include volunteering, entrepreneurship, and military service among others. Schools have a role in creating health parent and student support groups to ensure accountability and coordination. Counseling departments should also be instituted in schools to ensure that emotional and psychological needs of the students are catered for.
According to my interviewee, the police have done a great job in countering crime in Kansas City. A lot of resources have been availed to handle crime. The number of police patrols was also increased to ensure that criminals are controlled. The managing director of Missouri Commission observed that the police patrols have significantly reduced instances of street burglary and mugging. However, there is a need of more effort to completely eliminate homicides and shop lifting. Further, the Kansas police department needs to increase the number of staff dealing with homicide cases so as to deal with the issue. More police also should be trained on handing suicide cases so as to provide emotional and psychological support to the citizens of the city. Those who are found breaking the law need to be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law. It is, however, necessary that fairness is ensured and justice followed to the letter. Punishing offenders acts as a warning to those who have intensions to break the law. The fear of punishment is always enough to make people live in accordance with the law.
Statistics obtained from the organization illustrates that many crime offenders are generally youths. This revelation shows that some parents are to blame for the involvement of their off springs in crime. Many parents are generally not involved in the development of their children. As the director noted, absent parenting is very common in today’s society where the life demands are high. This means that parents have to work all the time to have money to cater for the family needs. In such setups, the children spend most of their time alone. Further, parents have no time to get to know their children and even rebuke evil character in their lives. This means that a child can be dude but the parents are not aware of that. The director observed that parents need to balance work and parenting so as to correct unruly behavior of their children at the early stages. Parents also need to talk with their children more often so as to build trust and good values in the formative stages of life. Children who do not have solid values tend to engage in anything including crime in their later life. The interviewee claims that parents also need to control the nature and type of technology that their children are exposed to. Children who spend a lot of time on movies full of violence tend to replay the same in their real lives. Such exposure to dangerous entertainment contents can be controlled if parents spent more time with their children.
Further, the managing director said that churches can use their powers and privileges to mentor people into following the right paths in life. Many religious doctrines teach against crime and violence (Franklin, Last, and Stallones, 2013). This means that the young people can be advised to stay away from violence. Kansas City has Catholic, Baptist and many other religious organizations that have regular meetings. Churches can also develop rehabilitation classes to support those who have previously been involved in crime. Further, parents can be taught on the right ways to raise their children so as to keep the young away from the danger of wrong influence. The director thinks that it is possible to have support groups within the church and religious organizations that can provide accountability to the citizens of Kansas City. Churches can also run schools where children are equipped both with professional knowledge and religious values. Many students who attended church schools display a good behavior in daily life.
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Many criminal acts are committed with the use of guns. It is true that people can easily get gun license in Jackson County. General thinking illustrates that the ease of getting guns gives criminals easy time to plan and execute their criminal acts. However, it is also worth noting that criminals can access guns from any other illegal sources. Some countries have strict gun ownership laws yet still have high statistics of crime. This means that a strict gun control law is not the only a remedy to controlling crime in Kansas City. Further, some home owners have successfully used personal guns to expelled thugs who attacked them. This means that these targets could have successfully been attacked if they did not have guns for protection. The interviewee claims that policy should be put in place to ensure a proper scrutiny to those applying to own guns. It is also vital to create and regulate the spaces where people can go with personal guns so as to spot any suspicious persons. He further says that those with guns also should be locked in safe places so as to eliminate misuse of the weapons. Persons considered young should not be granted access to weapons because of the danger of misuse.
The majority of those participating in crime were the middle-aged people in Kansas City. Those in this category were mainly suspects in homicide and violent robberies. The middle aged people were those aged from thirty to fifty. People in this age group also participated in auto theft because of the skills they had attained over time. There were a lot of young people among criminals. They were aged from sixteen to twenty nine years. As the interviewee tells, it is evident that they engaged into crime because of the frustration due to joblessness and tough economic times. The young people also got involved in sexual offences such as rape. More men than ladies are engaged in crime in Kansas City. However, females can sometimes be used to lure people into the scenes of crime because of their perceived innocence. Very few senior citizens commit crimes. It is possible to meet an old homeless man who is a law-abiding person. The old people could also be few because some could be in jail for having broken the law when they were young.
Businesses need to form associations to consolidate support and interventions towards crime in Kansas City. Through such a forum, businesses can raise funds that can help implement various programs to curb crime in Kansas City. It is also to develop resource centers to help in the rehabilitation of those who have previously been involved in crime. The business community also has a role in expanding their premises to create more jobs. It is evident that joblessness is a motivating factor that pushes many people into crime (KCMO, 2016). Those with a steady income hardly think of crime as an option. It is, therefore, important that the business community checks for the ways of expanding their businesses to create more jobs. The businesses can also run adverts though online and print media to raise awareness and warn on the dangers of crime. According to the interviewed director, it is also vital to note that the businesses can raise funds towards supporting the Kansas City police department in their programs since the government provides the main funding. The corporate social responsibility of the business organizations can target programs that create awareness of the lifestyle alternative to crime to ensure life sustainability.
The director also mentioned that many people who engage in crime are known to abuse drugs. It is evident that abuse of drugs makes one skewed in making wrong decisions. Measures to help people stay away from drugs will help in fighting crime in Kansas City. Further, peer pressure has been blamed for the involvement of more people into crime. People need to be advised to exercise caution when making friends. It is better to have no friend than have bad friends who mislead. Good support groups help one stay away from a bad company.
Conclusion
The interview outlined the ways of controlling crime in Kansas City. The interviewee from Kansas City Commission on Violent Crime explained that joblessness, poverty, and lack of education were the main reasons for the increase in crime in Kansas City.
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