Hi All!

I am a person that watches a lot of “murder” shows and thought it might be interesting to see homicides by types. I am doing this for a class I am taking, and I am pretty new at the blogging, therefore, pretty shaky on how this is supposed to work so let’s see if I can figure this one out ;0)

I am choosing this topic because I find forensic science and the nature of human beings fascinating and frightening at the same time.  It is interesting to see what types of and where the concentration of homicides occur.  What causes people to become and to be so violent toward one another? 

Murders have been happening since the beginning of time.  From child killings to genocides, killing is part of human nature.  I believe every person has had that thought at one time or another, but obviously not every person acts upon that urge.  What drives a person to this act?  Lust? Love? Loathing? Looting?

Below is a table reflecting homicides that occurred throughout the United States from the years 2011 through 2015.

https://public.tableau.com/views/Murdersbytypes/Sheet1?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&publish=yes&:origin=viz_share_link

Other Arguments, Other – not specified, and especially Unknown are leading the group so essentially, it appears that in most homicides the facts are inconclusive on what the exact motive is.  At minimal, the motive is either vague or very broad in nature.

I honestly thought gang-affiliated homicides might have been greater.  Although I have only been teaching nine years, we have lost too many students to gun violence.  I would expect this in St. Louis or Chicago and not so much in Springfield, Illinois, but it happens and far too often.  I feel very naïve sometimes.  I was not raised in the environments that I see my students exposed to daily.  There is strong gang activity in my small “city.”  This can be attributed to being a stop between Chicago and St. Louis and it continues to grow every year.  It is always so sad when a child’s life if lost to something so senseless.  Some of these losses are due to gang affiliations, some to drug activity and some to simple territorial bullying that follows students from home to school and back again.  One of my students said this year and it broke my heart, he is a freshman, “My grandmother said that high school was going to be fun.  It is not fun at all.  The sh*t follows us from home to school and never ends.”  Think about that – feeling so hopeless and fearful just by going about your daily routine.  So many of us are so fortunate to have never experienced such daily turmoil in our lives.

It is interesting to see where in the United States are the majority of homicides are taking place.  Initially one might think of New York being in the top five, but it is not.  According to the graphic below, the top five are as follows:  California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania.  I can understand California, Texas and Illinois which all have densely populated cities:  Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Chicago.  Florida and Pennsylvania are not as easy to understand.  But, the more I search for the states with the highest homicide rates, the more varying answers I get.  So, what information can we trust?  Would you use this information to decide where to live?

Bottom line, violent crimes happen everywhere.  “Criminals look for people who are not paying attention to their surroundings, and then use the element of surprise to their advantage.” (Zamora, D. n.d.)  We need to take control of our own safety. Take steps such as self-defense classes and installing security systems.  Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings and trust your instinct.

Conclusion

“How can we dedicate countless hours to matters of art, science, and other sophisticated pursuits and still commit acts of murder or wage globe-spanning wars?” (Strickland, J. 2010)  What makes humans kill?   Nature verses nurture? Crimes of passion? Antisocial personality disorders? Survival? Is it simply we are more animalistic than we imagine? There is no all encompassing answer.   Homicides, genocides, and wars are nothing new and have been around since the beginning of time and unfortunately will continue because we are just that . . . human.

References

Expanded_Homicide_Data_Table_12_Murder_Circumstances (2011-2015) Retrieved from https://www.data.gov

Nass, D. (2017) Cities with the Highest Homicide Rates.  Retrieved from https://www.thetrace.org

Strickland, J. (2010) Why Do We Kill? Retrieved from https://www.science.howstuffworks.com

Total number of murders in the United States in 2017, by state (2019) Retrieved from https://www.statista.com

Zamora, D.  (n.d.) How to Protect Yourself Against Crime.  Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com

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