Free Crime in Dallas, Texas Essay Sample
Dallas, Texas remains one of the most dangerous cities as compared to other neighboring towns and cities. According to Sunburn and Johnson, violent crime is on the rise in most of the US cities. Specifically, Dallas occupies the leading position in this list due to the high number of people killed every day. City Data reports that Dallas is more dangerous as compared to other cities such as Highland Park, Farmers Branch, Cockrell Hills, and University Park. In the recent past, President Trump has indicated that he would seek the intervention from federal enforcement agencies if the state governments did not intervene and contain the rising cases of violent and property crimes in most cities of the country. Following these revelations, I sought to document most of the crime stories in Dallas, Texas mainly from the mainstream news media such as the television and newspapers. The result of the two-week documentation uncovers the increasingly violent and property crimes, the main perpetrators, the victims of the heinous acts, and postulates several criminal justice system reforms.
Firstly, over the last two weeks, the media reported about 188 cases of violent crimes. The crimes mainly involved aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, and murder. One striking thing was the increasing number of crimes, perpetrated by unidentified people. Thus, a 20-year-old man was found shot dead on the 1400 block of Diceman Avenue on January 27, 2017. The police were yet to identify and arrest the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Four days later, police found two men shot dead in Wildflower Apartments in Northeast Dallas, while six days later, the police tried to solve the killing of a 21-year-old man at 4055 Frankford Road. In all these cases, the police were yet to identify the shooters or the perpetrators of the crime. The same case applied to other categories of violent crimes, with old people being the victims of them. For instance, a 76-year-old woman was gang-raped by masked women on Valentines Day near North Belt Line Road and West Pioneer Drive, about 3:30 a.m. Some of the scenarios instilled fear and provoked anger towards the perpetrators and the law enforcement agencies. This news has particularly bothered me, considering the fact that no perpetrators have been apprehended and charged for their gruesome activities.
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Secondly,the mainstream media reported about 600 cases of property offenses in the city over the last two weeks. Most of the crimes ranged from burglary, theft, shoplifting to vandalism, arson motor vehicle theft, and larceny. Notably, one of the dramatic robbery incident involved a man who stole guns from a recognized firearms dealer. The federal authorities offered a large bounty ($10,000) for the information, leading to the arrest of the offender. Luckily, tips from the neighbors resulted in the arrest and subsequent jailing of the perpetrator. The apprehension of the suspect was a relief, given that more than 13 guns would be used to commit grimmer crimes such as carjacking and murder. Thus, the criminal justice officials did their best to contain the situation. Most intriguing thing about property theft crimes in Dallas is that they occur during the day when most people are at workp or in the early hours. For instance, of the 600 cases of property crimes, 15 burglary cases occurred at 3.00 am while 32 shoplifting cases happened in the afternoon. One thing that I have learned after watching news detailing the property theft is that there exists a definite pattern of the crimes involving property crimes. Therefore, the criminal justice officers, such as the local, state and federal agencies, can use the model to reduce the form of these illegal activities.
Thirdly,although the authors of some appalling crimes are yet to be identified, data available from the news media indicate a structure of the most notorious perpetrators of violent and property crimes. Thus, of 788 crimes committed, African Americans were responsible for 30% of homicide cases, 29% of aggravated assault, 24% of rape, 43% of robbery, and 28% of burglary cases, while Hispanics were responsible for 66% of burglary cases, 72% of homicide, 80% of robbery, 65% of rape, and 67% of aggravated assault. Surprisingly, 98% of Hispanic and African American perpetrators are male. Therefore, the findings from the news media resonate with the results from U.S. Department of Justice that indicate that African American and Hispanics are more prone to conducting criminal activities. The U.S. Department of Justice cites high levels of unemployment, low incomes, and drug abuse among the main factors, leading African Americans to crimes. On the contrary, the media attributes the high number of Hispanics perpetrating robbery to illegal immigration as most do not have the necessary documentation to engage in legal employment. Therefore, the need to feed the family and pay bills propel them to theft, burglary, and the aggravated assault. What bothers me most of the incidences of the crime is that African American and Hispanic offenders are young, mostly in their twenties. The revelations are saddening because young people are the most energetic and best placed to drive the US economy forward. Therefore, it would be prudent for the government to enact favorable policies to allow such people to engage in employment and other income-generating activities if it wants crimes to reduce. Furthermore, the criminal justice system needs to adopt policies of guiding and counseling the offenders on better self-improvement strategies while serving their terms.
Fourthly,the articles and the video reports for the past two weeks indicate that there are no particular target victims of the growing anarchy in Dallas. However, a closer look at the videos reveals that whites are the most targeted victims. The compilation reveals that of 788 crimes conducted in the two weeks of observation, 55% whites became crime victims. Closely following them are African Americans at 18%, while the Asian victims were slightly above 8% of all individuals who had suffered from crime. Media reports indicated that whites were more wealthy, influential, and most prejudice against other communities. The factors contributed to the high number of white victims as they were easy targets of both African American and Hispanic offenders. Likewise, the media reports indicated possible reprisals and retaliations as the possible causes of African American victims. Preliminary investigations by the law enforcement agencies pointed to disagreements or discontent among members of criminal cells, operating in the city, as the primary cause of Black Americans murder victims since most of the crime scenes pointed to well-orchestrated assassination plots. Therefore, most murder victims were of African-American origin, while the victims of home burglary and carjacking were whites, and Asians were shoplifting victims. Surprisingly, most victims of African American offenders are males, while the victims of Hispanics were mixed gender, which would allow implying that the latter targeted both male and females in their robbery activities. If I had the chance to talk to the victims, especially whites, I would enlighten them on the need to treat other ethnic communities as an equal human race. Developing healthy relationships with minority communities would be essential in reducing crime rates. At the same time, I would encourage the victims of criminal cells to quit the groups and start engaging in productive activities such as entrepreneurship. The advance would reduce reliance on the government or crimes as a source of livelihood.
Finally,following the two weeks of intensive monitoring of the news about crime, I would offer several criminal justice reforms that would be effective in dealing with rising crime levels in Dallas, Texas. First, it would be prudent for the government to abandon the crackdown on drugs in the city because it has not worked for over decades and, instead, put the law enforcement officers in the street to fight against real crimes. The media reports indicate a definite pattern involving robbery. Such cases are preventable with proper planning and willingness from law enforcement agencies. Secondly, it would be essential for the government to reverse the practice of making most of the crimes under the federal jurisdiction. That way, the state authorities will have the proper constitutional scope of investigating, identifying crime patterns, establishing the motives of the offense, and narrowing down to the potential suspect. The advance will also allow the state authorities to exercise greater responsibilities of securing citizens.
Conclusively, Dallas, Texas remains one of the most insecure cities in the United States. After two weeks of active monitoring of the mainstream media, 788 crime incidences were reported. Thus, 188 of the offenses were under the violent crime category, while the rest constituted property crimes. The main offenders were male Hispanic and African Americans in their twenties, while primary victims were whites, African Americans, and Asians. Therefore, the government needs to abandon the fight against drug trafficking and reverse the jurisdiction of crimes from the federal agencies to the state bodies to enhance close monitoring of offenses.