Portland has a high amount of rapes per capita (sales, sex offender)

[tigerlily]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Crime statistics are often impacted by the willingness of the community to notify the police. Particularly in the case of rape if a woman feels like she won't be respected by law enforcement she won't file a report.

According to my friend who was an advocate for rape victims in the Portland area before she moved your post is correct. She would be called at any time and would counsel the victim at the hospital.

[kip60]

Originally Posted by hamellr

There have been plenty of studies around the world in places where strip bars and prostitution (not necessarily both at the same time) are legal. Almost universally the number of violent crimes against women, rape and domestic abuse cases, dropped to anywhere from 10-50% of their previous stats. Las Vegas Nevada is one of the most famous cases.

Prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas (Clark County), as it is in most Nevada Counties.

Prostitution in Nevada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think the oversexualization of our culture keeps men and women too distracted by sex. The flashing neon signs, and "in your face" siloulettes of nude women on too many streets in Portland is not a good image for any American city and I wonder what other city looks as seedy.

I wonder if this environment, being very hard to avoid, could be attracting sexual deviants. I would be interested to know many registered sex offenders there are in Portland, versus Seattle or San Francisco.

My goal would not be to be labeled as a religious zealot but to encourage people to stay in harmony with all aspects of their lives...spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical and not allow sleezy club owners to profit from people's fantasies. I hate the idea of people's sexuality being exploited.

Can I hear an amen?

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Mr.SmithW

I didn't say large amounts of people make fallacious claims, rather I said a lot of people do. Even if it is just 10%, it can skew statistics. Many things can be classified as sexual assault or rape in this society. A guy touching a woman's breast can be classified as rape. Can you show me some stats proving that there are not people who make false or exaggerated rape claims?? Didn't think so.. Thank you.


.

I don't believe I stated that it never happens; of course it does. I've seen conflicting stats on this particular subject. The FBI stats puts "unfounded" rape accusations at about 8%, but that percentage also factors in the cases win which law enforcement had no viable suspect or didn't feel they had enough evidence. Friends and family in the legal profession tell me that false rape claims are fairly easy to discern.

It seems like it's always men who advocate 2nd Amendment remedies, and in some rare cases that can probably actually work, such as when someone is trying to break in but is not yet inside. But in reality, the nature of the crime is such that the element of surprise is often used by the attacker

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by kip60

.

I wonder if this environment, being very hard to avoid, could be attracting sexual deviants. I would be interested to know many registered sex offenders there are in Portland, versus Seattle or San Francisco.

You can probably find that information here:

Oregon Sex Offender Registry - Sexual Offenders Registry - The Nationwide Safety Network

[aroseinrain]

Originally Posted by kip60

I would be interested to know many registered sex offenders there are in Portland, versus Seattle or San Francisco.

I would imagine that the info would be somewhat coincidental in any case simply because registered sex offenders are barred from living within a certain distance from schools and such, or am I mistaken.

It's very difficult to live in a sprawling metropolis such as SF bay area, for example, without being near a school or a park. Whereas, it would be easy to live near Portland without being near a park or school.

However, at one time I knew of a realty website that included a map of registered sex offenders... can't recall which one it was now... and was pleased to discover that I could live here in Beaverton without being within 5 miles of a registered sex offender but in Fremont (where we moved from) there were 3 just within a mile of our home.

I believe there are 6 strip joints in Beaverton that I could find vs 2 strip clubs in fremont (and also 2 stripper services where they will perform in your home or party, but not a bar/club).

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by Salal

MrSmithW: Please move to Idaho immediately. You frighten me.

This person You are talking about has a lot of common sense and I'm wondering if you know anything accurate about Idaho.

[Leisesturm]

Just yesterday someone walked into a police precinct in Detroit, MI and managed to wound four officers, one of them seriously, before being killed by return fire. Earlier this year, in Seattle, WA, four officers on duty (armed) were killed in a coffee-shop. Several of the attendants to the massacre in AZ were armed. An armed police chief was killed in Oregon by a mentally unstable person in a stand-off situation. Since the situations in which responsible gun owners (civilian) might advantageously use a firearm to defend themselves or loved ones are so rare it begs the question as to why it should be allowed and/or encouraged as a best practice.

There is WAY more use of firearms as offensive weapons than as defensive ones, there are WAY more accidental killings/woundings of civilians and law enforcement than all the defensive uses of firearms combined. When a civilian disdains stun guns or chemical weapons in favor of a projectile weapon with its intrinsic capacity for collateral damage s/he is saying: "I have a strong need for retribution and I want to make sure that anyone sketchy looking who even twitches in my general direction regrets it for the rest (hopefully short) of their life. Mostly it never happens. My neighbors have been waiting over 25 years to use a fire-arm in anger. That is a LOT of down-time.

The handgun didn't evolve to its present awesome level of capability without constant R&D on the part of munitions makers. If the kind of targeted development that has been applied to the "six-shooter" had been applied to stun technology then we would have hugely more effective TASERS that would take a major chunk out of the volume of general mayhem that goes on in America. How to feed, where to house and in what capacities to employ the many un-dead individuals and their descendants not killed in senseless violent acts would become a national issue. One that I doubt America is prepared to address.

My theory is that as long as there is an overall growth trend to the population, the individual will remain expendable to the world at large. As long as 75%+ of the victims of handgun violence in America continue to be African American males under 30y.o. there will not be a serious push to reduce the public's over-reliance on firearms. As was said. A couple times. Violent sexual assault by random strangers is rare. Common sense strategies to reduce one's exposure will go much further to protecting a woman's propriety than a Glock in her purse. Training in martial arts or other close combat techniques is arguably a better use of the time and money available before the fact than any amount of "range time". How often, in an urban assault situation, is your assailant 20 yards away?

H

[Leisesturm]

If there was any corellation between exposure to sexual images or a general heightened awareness of sexuality in the overall culture and rape statistics, most of Europe would be a violent, unliveable, hellhole of wanton depravity where women would have to exist as cloistered chattel for their own protection. Full frontal nudity is often on TV in prime time and nudity and sexual innuendo in advertising are at levels that would have protest groups marching in American streets. The fact is: given all of that. The sexual violence in America exceeds that in some Muslim countries.

Prostitution, strip- clubs, porn are outlets for individuals rather than inducements to violence. A country (America) in which a 21 year old woman can auction her virginity to the highest bidder on EBAY is a country in trouble. When the winning bid is in the multi-millions of dollars you know its time to get the globe out, give it a spin and research the employment opportunities of the spot under your thumb when she stops spinning.

It is a mistake to look to the past for answers to the issues of today. Things weren't any clearer back then. It just seems that way. I realize it is pretty scary to imagine that we have to let go of our petty morals and decriminalize plenty of what we get a superiority charge from denigrating. The healthiest societies are the ones that leave people to themselves! In America there is a gun for every man, woman and child. The majority of children are unarmed and also most women. It stands to reason that most American men are armed well beyond what is necessary to protect life and limb. It is much the same in Switzerland. There is a lot more mayhem, murder and sexual violence in America than Switzerland. Increased laxity of gun laws in America will clearly not be a fix for our anger management issues. More nookie might be. As proof I offer The Netherlands, or Germany. They don't allow the kind of gun access the Swiss do and they have even lower levels of murder and mayhem. The people are happier and have more sex though. Hmmmmmm.


H

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

There is WAY more use of firearms as offensive weapons than as defensive ones, there are WAY more accidental killings/woundings of civilians and law enforcement than all the defensive uses of firearms combined.

Um.... no. The number of people killed by guns in the United States is under 30,000 now. It's been dropping for a couple of years.

The LOWEST number of crimes stopped by an armed citizen is 60,000 a year, based off of police reports around the country. The generally accepted number is closer to 2.5 million. Even using the lower estimate of 2 million and we still have a huge discrepancy in your statement.

[kip60]

I attempted to access the Oregon Sex Offender Registry and you need to have the person's name. I guess this is for their protection??????

Community Policing & Neighborhood Crime Statistics | CrimeReports.com

has a map but I understand a previous poster that since they are not allowed to live near schools, etc., so it could be distorted? But at least you can compare the numbers in any zip codes.