Solutions to Luzerne County's Violent Crime Wave? (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: home, wages)

[blip]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

This is the fundamental problem nationwide, the war on drugs has been escalating since the 70's? The result is more profits for the people peddling them making it very lucrative and more than enough people are willing to take that risk. Those that do get caught are filling out jails and may not be there otherwise except for the drugs being illegal.

I get a good laugh when they have one of these press conferences with recent ring of dealers they took out because there is some other guy cheering for it as well because they took out the competition.

The only plausible solution as I see it is legalization, it will most definitely remove much of the crime associated with it particularly the violence and crime perpetrated by addicts. The effects on the violence associated with the dealers may not be so dramatic as they may move onto something else but truthfully I cannot think of anything as lucrative and easy as the drug trade.

The downside is we're making some highly addictive drugs quite readily available.

The money used to house these criminals and addicts can be redirected towards treatment for addicts which I honestly think is money very well spent compared to housing them in jail. A lot of these people go to jail and come out worse, it's nothing more than criminal college for a lot of them.

I agree. The government can even make money by taxing drugs--use a sliding scale with higher taxes for more addictive and dangerous drugs. Just think of all the money that could be made off all those pot heads out there. That money could go towards treatment and enforcement. Yet the drugs would be safer and better quality--and relatively cheaper--so users wouldn't seek illegal sources.

Something like:
A Most drugs legalized and taxed (Marijuana, Cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD, Mushrooms, etc)
B Most other drugs decriminalized in small possessions-civil offenses with steep fines (Meth?)
C Maybe keep some criminalized (PCP, etc)

(Also, tax evasion on sales of A, dealing A without a license, or large possessions of B would still be criminal. Maybe category B wouldn't even be necessary.)

But this is a national solution to a national problem.

As for what WB could do, I like the corporate juvenile detention center idea.

[Vinny536]

i don't think the list of decriminalized drugs should be long, but i do think drugs like pot should be legal and taxed like cigarettes. almost every day there is a story about armed mexicans getting caught with millions of dollars worth of pot locally. if it solves nothing else it would shut down a large majority of drug trafficking and get money out of criminals hands.

[returningtonepa???]

how many of you have worked with addicts???0r seen the physical results?legalizing it will not solve the problem----those without money will still commit crimes to get what they need---what about an increased and better trained police force?crime escalates in areas where police presence is minimal--thus not effective imho

[InfectedMushroom]

Remember people, there is a difference between legalization and decriminalization.

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I'm sitting here aghast reading the Times-Leader online on this rainy day to learn that the recent bar shooting that left 38-year-old Joseph Bensen of Wilkes-Barre dead in a parking lot is the eighth homicide so far in 2009 in Wilkes-Barre and the 12th so far this year in the county! At this rate we'll have 16 murders this year in Wilkes-Barre (pop. 40,000) and 24 murders in Luzerne County (pop. 300,000). If this holds true then Wilkes-Barre's murder rate will be approximately 1 per 2,500 individuals. Just to give you guys something to chew on a bit:

New York City:
2009 Murders to Date: 138
Estimated Population: 8,300,000
2009 Murder Rate: 1 per 60,145 individuals

Minneapolis:
2009 Murders to Date: 4 (Yes, You Read That Correctly)
Estimated Population: 380,000
2009 Murder Rate: 1 per 95,000 individuals

Pittsburgh:
2009 Murders to Date: 22
Estimated Population: 310,000
2009 Murder Rate: 1 per 14,091 individuals

Get the picture thus far?


How can it can be that Wilkes-Barre, per capita, has become one of the nation's most dangerous cities? Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a population much higher than all of Luzerne County, has had a homicide, on average, just once every six weeks so far in 2009. Pittsburgh, reeling from a bloody 2008, is having a relatively safe and tame 2009. Meanwhile Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County are on track for record homicide tallies this year. What's going on?!! What can be done to ebb this before it becomes even worse?

Ahh, yes the original post!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Ahh, yes the original post!

I was wondering why this thread was "going to pot!"

[Vinny536]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I was wondering why this thread was "going to pot!"

i think its often overlooked that most violence could easily be linked back to drug activity. for example, the latest alleged killed was arrested with $20,000 in pot a few years back according to the citizens' voice. now, if pot were legal would this person have entered a life of crime?

most pot smokers i know claim they have not and will not use other "harder" drugs. and the volume of marijuana busts over other drug busts shows the higher demand of pot over other drugs.

[The Big Tuna]

I suppose if I suggested a baseball bat wielding neighborhood association would be out of line.

[Trucker7]

I think that at the very least, pot should be legalized. That would:
1. Make drug dealing less lucrative, since you're removing a large percentage of their revenue.
2. Raise taxes to combat drug addiction, and maybe give the Scranton Police officers a raise.
3. Prevent pot-heads from buying pot from their neighborhood drug dealer, who will try hard to convince them to move to better drugs.

I've never seen someone kill or rob because they are in marijuana withdrawal.

[The Big Tuna]

You people can tell it to a messageboard and I'm probably out of line, but let's gather baseball bats and start to send a message to out of town slumlords.