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Notice the rates for 17 to 19 year olds. It is a sobering statistic. A lot of teenagers committing homicides.
Since the 17 to 19 year old category only encompasses 3 years and the adult categories are all 5 years the numbers are even more sobering.
17 to 19 = 1465 divided by 3 = 588.3 per yr
20 to 24 = 2682 divided by 5 = 536.4 per yr
25 to 29 = 1794 divided by 5 = 358.8 per yr
30 to 34 = 1123 divided by 5 = 224.6 per yr
35 to 39 = 800 divided by 5 = 160 per yr
40 to 44 = 602 divided by 5 = 120.4 per yr
Looks like you were quite correct in your statement that someone is much more likely to be murdered by a 17 y/o than a 40 y/o.
Yes, taking fists to a gunfight was pretty stupid.
You know, fist fighting with someone carrying a gun would be pretty naive. It think that would be a strong indication that Trayvon was not at all the street-smart thug people are contending he was; otherwise, he would have suspected that Zimmerman had a gun. I also think it's a likely scenario that Zimmerman said something to Trayvon which provoked the fight, something which made Trayvon feel very threatened, unfairly threatened. The picture of Zimmerman that is developing from various witness statements indicates that Zimmerman was known to easily say things to people which were offensive and provocative.
Do you think it should be legal for you to go up to someone and verbally attack them, provoking a fist fight, and then you shoot that person if they are getting the best of you in that fist fight? Is that how stand your ground should work?
I guess the problem is we will never know who through the first punch. Without being able to find that out I do not see how a conviction on Zimmermen's actions can be obtained under Florida law.
Honestly, I don't think it matters who threw the first punch. If Trayvon threw the first punch, he could very well have done so because he felt threatened. If Zimmerman threw the first punch, maybe he felt that he was detaining some smart-ass kid who wouldn't answer his questions in an acceptable or timely manner.
To me, the bottom line is that none of this would have happened if Zimmerman would have just done what a "neighborhood watch" person is supposed to do - be observant and report suspicious activity and not get directly involved.
And I believe there should be consequences for the fact that he didn't do just that - that he went above and beyond what he, an untrained and unauthorized citizen, should have done.
If it had been left up to law enforcement, the most likely scenario would have been that a couple of cops would have approached Trayvon, asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood, probably asked him for some sort of identification, and then watched him until he returned to the home he said he was headed to.
No dead kid, no grieving parents, no Zimmerman getting on-line donations to his defense fund, and none of us debating about it here on City Data.
I guess the problem is we will never know who through the first punch. Without being able to find that out I do not see how a conviction on Zimmermen's actions can be obtained under Florida law.
Let's say gz threw the 1st punch. If I understand the Fl. self defense law, a person who initially provokes the use of force against himself can Still use deadly force If:
1. The force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and;
2. he has exhausted every reasonable means to escape the danger.
I think, regardless of the law, he'll be convicted of something serious.
In most of your comments you demonstrate the racist proposition rush to judgement of things you presuppose as facts that have never been demonstrated outside the realm of imagination
So let me understand? If I get behind you in the mall on a given day and we happen to be on the same path of visiting the same stores by coincidence and by coincidence we leave at the same time and by coincidence we are parked side by side and return to our cars at the same time I had best expect you to turn around jump be to the ground and begin pounding me? That evidently is what I should now expect or always should have expected of a white hating pinko phobic. Is this correct?
It is alarming to me that there exist idiots in this country that are so arrogant and bully minded as to believe I have no right to follow them down the street that the act of doing so presupposes the right to attack me and end up on the wring end of a gun. What lunacy to believe that. The further time takes us away from the racist instigators whose sole purpose is political capital the more we understand the injustice to Zimmerman.
Good god! GZ shot TM because he feared for his life. Kid has a record of drug abuse, defacing property, possession of (probably stolen) jewelry he could not account for and a burglary tool. All this at age 17.
Ten years ago or more GZ drang too much, got in the way of some officer who had not identified himself and had to go to court over that. There was a tit for tat with an ex with both filing restraining orders.
Since ten years ago, GZ was mentoring black children, had tried to lead a charge with black churches to hels some other black person at the hands of the police. He was a community organizer and a big Demcrat.
If Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, some parents, racial groups and the President didn't make this a big news event and race issue these charges would have never been filed.
This was a straight forward self defense case.
Honestly, I don't think it matters who threw the first punch. If Trayvon threw the first punch, he could very well have done so because he felt threatened. If Zimmerman threw the first punch, maybe he felt that he was detaining some smart-ass kid who wouldn't answer his questions in an acceptable or timely manner.
To me, the bottom line is that none of this would have happened if Zimmerman would have just done what a "neighborhood watch" person is supposed to do - be observant and report suspicious activity and not get directly involved.
And I believe there should be consequences for the fact that he didn't do just that - that he went above and beyond what he, an untrained and unauthorized citizen, should have done.
If it had been left up to law enforcement, the most likely scenario would have been that a couple of cops would have approached Trayvon, asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood, probably asked him for some sort of identification, and then watched him until he returned to the home he said he was headed to.
No dead kid, no grieving parents, no Zimmerman getting on-line donations to his defense fund, and none of us debating about it here on City Data.
I agree with you 95% on this. I just do not see a crime committed under Florida law. I do believe who threw the first punch would matter to a jury.
Biased about what? I have no opinion about Zimmerman's guilt. I have been consistent with my position throughout. Apparently, you think that if someone does not come down on one side of the Zimmerman is guilty/not guilty thing then they must automatically believe the other. I am neutral. I would be the perfect juror on the trial because I have no bias - I look at the case objectively - and to me it doesn't matter what happened between the time Zimmerman called 911 and the moment Martin was shot - that is not for me to analyze - but the jury.
My issue is with the media who skewed the opinion of the public one way by showing a 5 yr old picture in the name of ratings.
I'm not going to go back and re-read this whole thread, but somewhere along the line it started to appear as if you were siding with zimmerman. And thinking that I was taking up for Treyvon.
I've said that I believe they both made bad choices. And I agree that they media did not help the situation.
I've seen a few of your posts where you seem to be arguing one side or the other, to me that doesn't seem unbiased, unless you are just playing devils advocate to make people think, but I haven't seen you say anything to indicate that.
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