Too many people are getting killed! From Cop in the Hood:
Still the risk of death is astoundingly high. For some of those “in the game,” the risk of death may be as high as 7 percent annually. Each year in Baltimore’s Eastern District approximately one in every 160 men aged fifteen to thirty- four is murdered. At this rate, more than 10 percent of men in Baltimore’s Eastern District are murdered before the age of thirty- five. As shocking as this is, the percentage would be drastically higher if it excluded those who aren’t “in the game” and at risk because of their association with the drug trade. Yet if everybody you know has been shot, killed, or locked up, perhaps such is life.
Linked to the recent increase in homicides:
Police don’t find many guns when frisking suspects. The threat of arrest may outweigh the risk of being robbed or attacked. For others, a reputation for violence may be enough of a deterrent. Yet there is no doubt that guns are accessible to many. After all, gunfire is a daily reality and pacifist corner drug dealers don’t last long.