It is on the increase because these wanna-bees know that our Justice system is backwards, and they will not suffer if they are caught. They will only receive PERKS in Jails.

Incarceration is an inconvenience not punishment for crime. The revolving door of our penal system is not effective in curbing crime. Victims rights are down played and the rights of criminals always rise to the highest priority. Police have to be criminal lawyers and react to situations that should be cut and dried creating a defensive situation each and every arrest. Every patrolman's life and career are on the line because of policy, public opinion and laws that give every criminal more protection than the people trying to protect us the law abiding citizens. This country truly is in dire straits.

No big surprise here. The country is going to hell in a hand basket. What are good law abiding citizens supposed to do when all the guns are outlawed. If the police and others would start shooting these thugs down in the streets like the dogs that they are, things would change.

Let the punishment fit the crime!

Start charging defense lawyers for perjury when they tell a lie in 'defense' of their 'client'. Disbar them when they are proven liars and jail them in the regular prison polulationas accessories after the fact. Make judges and parole officials personally liable for their decisions and punish them as accessories when a parolee or bailee commits another crime. Allow them to be sued by their victims. Bring the appeals process back into reality by not allowing defense attorneys to charge the taxpayers for appeals and, if a judge is overturned more than three times in a lifetime by the appeals process, disbar him or her and fine them for all costs associated with the overturned decisions. Make all gun-realated crimes causing injury capital offenses and hold the appeals process on all capital offenses to a 3-year time limit. Insist that defense lawyers spend their time defending their client instead of delaying the process. Hold everyone involved to a 6-week time limit on each step in the appeals process. Limit jail perks and diet to basic sustenance and minimal comforts. We don't have a 'justice' system, we have a 'law professional welfare system'. Once we have gotten the Justice System back into the justice business, we can start on the police by making them work ACTIVELY to protect and serve citizens instead of protecting and serving criminals.

Children have to be taught and trained... respect, character, integrity....things they will not learn from a cell phone or violent video game.

First nailed it all !

well said first. I would like to also suggest that a law be enacted to the affect that IF a person is found guilty of any offense involving the use of a firearmt there be a MANDATORY 10 YEAR flat sentence be emposed for the use of a gun..No parole, no early release for good time, 10 years flat out over and above and other sentence.

Willard,

That will show them and putting them in prison will do nothing to make restitution for losses that came in the way of life, property and sorrow for the families affected. We have to stop housing these people in conditions that any street person would be glad to have. Free room, free food, free health care free television, free work out facilities and the list goes on.

If you think its bad now, wait till the moron in chief in the white house bans your weapons and takes them , they will be lined up taking turns robbing people with their stolen weapons and ammo and we will have to stand there and watch it happen because we have nothing to protect our self with because of an Incompetent illegal alien for a president that wants to be a dictator. The crime rate in Australia went through the roof as soon as they pulled their gun snatch. the criminals know that no one can defend them self. Even more protection for the entitlement generation Obama has enabled and keeps suckling our country dry to support .

The lovely children hanging out on the corner of larkwood and sunnybrook are the result of the thugs that live on that corner and invite them to congregate there with the thug children they have raised, yes it is some quieter , but they are starting to gather there again and its the trash that decatur housing authority has piled in our backyards with their apartments and section 8 housing , this whole neighborhood is fed up with it , they need to bull doze all these apartments and let the "bad " area rest like they did with Stonegate , that is where all this trash came from they dumped them in our neighborhood and they have destroyed a once quiet peaceful safe place to live. Its ridden with drug dealers and users and prostitutes and thieves and thugs , all because the city of decatur created it and allows it. I for one wish I could figure out what to sue them for starting with destroying our neighborhood with this trash and ending with not being able to live safely and enjoy what I have worked all my life to pay for, you can,t give houses over here away no one in their right mind wants to live around this trash and constant robberies and burglaries and fights , gun fights , vandalism you name it they put it over here with their apartments and section 8 renters. Its a total shame what the city of decatur has done to our neighborhood with all this.

All i can say is 2nd Ammendment.

yes 2nd amendment , and Obama is trying everything in his power to rob us of the right to defend our self so he can finish turning this in to a communist regime run by him and his entitlement folk

by the way I would be willing to bet the guns they are removing from the street were stolen guns taken from some hard working individual who purchased it to protect his home and family from the thugs that stole them. I would also bet that if any were legal weapons , not stolen they were bought from individuals , not legal retail outlets that do back ground checks

Punishment for crimes may be somewhat of a deterrant, but the motivator to commit crimes is often greater than the fear of being caught. IMO, simply strengthening punishments and/or limiting their access to guns won't solve the problem. We must also improve our population's educational attainment and our City's job growth to make a real difference. While it is true that some will choose a life of crime over gainful employment, to assume that this is true of the majority would be ignorant at best.

The employment-population ratio for Decatur leaves much to be desired. This is the number of employed adults within the population and often a better indicator of an area's true employment strength than unemployment numbers. Statistically, an increase in violent crime is noted when the employment-population ratio is low. Not surprising is the correlation between this ratio and graduation rates. Considering the economy and what's been reported about DCS over the past year, a rise in violent crime should come as no surprise.