Boston crime thread - all posts go here. (Boston: low income, housing)

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

Interesting that the guy arrested wasn't even from Boston. So it doesn't sound like Boston-based gang activity. Maybe a drunken fight instead?

I never thought it was Boston gang related activity lol. Nor did I assume the person had to be from Boston.

Just seemed like an overall strange place for someone to get thrown through a window. North end is considered pretty high end these days no? It's mainly restaurants and a huge place for tourists to flock to. So yes, my guess would be drunken fight especially with the person being 23. Again unusual to throw someone through a window at a hot spot bakery in the North end.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I never thought it was Boston gang related activity lol. Nor did I assume the person had to be from Boston.

Just seemed like an overall strange place for someone to get thrown through a window. North end is considered pretty high end these days no? It's mainly restaurants and a huge place for tourists to flock to. So yes, my guess would be drunken fight especially with the person being 23. Again unusual to throw someone through a window at a hot spot bakery in the North end.

I didn't say you thought these things. I was just expressing my own thoughts.

The North End has so many people around there all the time that it's not shocking that you could get a few drunks late at night who would cause problems. It has become a relatively high end area from what I understand but that's largely irrelevant when the neighborhood is always so full of outsiders.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

I didn't say you thought these things. I was just expressing my own thoughts.

The North End has so many people around there all the time that it's not shocking that you could get a few drunks late at night who would cause problems. It has become a relatively high end area from what I understand but that's largely irrelevant when the neighborhood is always so full of outsiders.

Maybe it was someone who wandered down from faneuil hall.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

BOSTON COMMON] armed stick 'em up, dudes on scooters, center of the common, they pulled gun + knife and relieved a vict of cash, celly.. BPD swarming #936pm

https://twitter.com/StacoS/status/15...yP97dz1L9TEXRQ

Back in 2015, I brought my dog with me to Boston and we stayed at a hotel near Boston Common. My dog would only pee on grass, so I brought her over to Boston Common to walk her, since the streets were all concrete.

I brought her over at about 9pm and when I wasn't deep into the Common, a man started whispering something to me. I sensed that he wanted me to come closer so he could rob me or harm me in some way, so I quickly pulled away and left. The criminals are more brazen now because they don't fear the consequences of crime now that prosecutors and politicians sympathize with them over the victims, so today he might have come right up to me and pulled a knife or a gun.

It's a shame the Common can't be kept safe at night.

Is this related to the 24-year-old woman who was killed, or was that a different incident? EDIT: I see that the 24-year-old woman was killed in Dorchester, not Boston Common.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Maybe it was someone who wandered down from faneuil hall.

Probably, since I don't recall the North End having any bars. It's all restaurants, and while you can get drunk at a restaurant, it's more likely that out-of-towners came into town to get hammered and ended up in a fight. Stupid.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

The criminals are more brazen now because they don't fear the consequences of crime now that prosecutors and politicians sympathize with them over the victims, so today he might have come right up to me and pulled a knife or a gun.
.

I know this is a pretty common refrain in politicized crime talk today, but I don't really buy it. It's overly simplistic. I'm certainly not arguing that there's no issue with lax enforcement on violent crime or with repeat violent offenders being released. It's a major problem with our justice system.

But the bold assumes that every criminal thinks the same way you or I do in terms of weighing the consequences of their actions. Many (maybe most) don't. "Toughness" as a deterrent has never really been effective unless it reaches authoritarian levels like you see in places like China or North Korea. States with the death penalty still have murders (non-death penalty states actually have lower murder rates). We lost the war on drugs. And violent crime in Boston and beyond was even higher before prosecutors and politicians started "sympathizing with criminals over victims."

Desperation, passion, addiction, and mental illness will all lead someone to commit crime regardless of the consequences. If you're in the Common at night, there's a good chance the driving force behind a robbery is the latter 2 rather than a calculating brazen criminal who isn't worried about consequences. Make a concerted effort to address those things, and you'll see a drastic reduction in crime. This goes hand-in-hand with supporting law enforcement (and should take a good deal of pressure off of the police who are currently the defacto front line when it comes to mental illness, homelessness, and addiction).

[msRB311]

I think it's a combo of the two. People being more brazen and hating/not caring about authority/police coupled with being poor, angry and/or mentally ill.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I think it's a combo of the two. People being more brazen and hating/not caring about authority/police coupled with being poor, angry and/or mentally ill.

I think this is true.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I think it's a combo of the two. People being more brazen and hating/not caring about authority/police coupled with being poor, angry and/or mentally ill.

People arent more brazen. Robbing someone in the common when its dark is not that brazen. It's a large dark park known to have criminal activity at night. It's not a robbery on Newbury Street at 3 pm.


They say daytime crime in Boston is in one of its lowest periodsand I believe it.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

Interesting that the guy arrested wasn't even from Boston. So it doesn't sound like Boston-based gang activity. Maybe a drunken fight instead?

a 23-year-old man from Burlington fighting in the North End is not a Boston gang thing.