Justified Homicides Up 50% In Memphis

[KenpoTex]

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?c...-12a9d75ec243&rss=59

... the 10th time a homicide has been ruled justified in 2008. That number is double the number of homicides ruled justified from January 2007 to April 2007. At this time last year, only five homicides were determined to have been justified. 10 justified homicides is nearly as many justified homicides as in all of 2006. During that entire year, just 11 homicides were ruled justified.

dumb quote from the article (emphasis added):

Major Scott said, "It is concerning over the last couple of years that we've had so many, but we really can't isolate it to the point where we feel like we could do anything preventive.”

Um...maybe I'm missing something but since when is good guys killing bad guys a bad thing or something that you would even want to prevent???
Seriously, if it's ruled a justified homicide, obviously the person was in fear for their life and had they not killed the bad guy they would probably have been seriously injured or killed.

 

[shesulsa]

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?c...-12a9d75ec243&rss=59




dumb quote from the article (emphasis added):

Um...maybe I'm missing something but since when is good guys killing bad guys a bad thing or something that you would even want to prevent???
Seriously, if it's ruled a justified homicide, obviously the person was in fear for their life and had they not killed the bad guy they would probably have been seriously injured or killed.

I think the general idea is to minimize deaths period.

 

[CoryKS]

One thing that might prevent it is if the idjits would quit doing the things that justify their own killing.

 

[shesulsa]

One thing that might prevent it is if the idjits would quit doing the things that justify their own killing.

Agreed ... just trying to find an answer to the question ... :idunno:

 

[Xue Sheng]

Tennessee law gives residents the right to defend themselves if they have a reasonable and imminent fear of harm from a carjacker, rapist, burglar or other violent assailant. They can also employ deadly force to protect another.

Well I guess there are fewer carjacker, rapist, burglar or other violent assailant around Memphis these days

 

[thardey]

Think of it this way -- the more "justifiable homicides" there are this year, the less there'll be next year!

the 10th time a homicide has been ruled justified in 2008. That number is double the number of homicides ruled justified from January 2007 to April 2007. At this time last year, only five homicides were determined to have been justified.

I'm soooo glad they cleared the math up for me. 10 is double of 5? That's more, right?

And again, for those who failed 4th degree math, but still read the news:

Out of the 51 homicides in Memphis so far this year, most have been the result of domestic violence. However, with 10 ruled justified, police say about 20% of the city’s killings this year were committed in self defense or to protect another person’s life.

Did the police have to tell her that 10 out of 51 is about 20%, or did she figure that out on her own, for our benefit?


Is it just me, or is the condescending attitude part of the reason that this comes across as a "bad" thing?

I mean, granted, less crime overall is a good thing, vigilante justice is not. But looking at this from a perspective that 10 people are alive and/or healthy because they defended themselves, I have to be glad.

Apparently, though, if the "sheeple" are too dumb to do their own math, they aren't qualified to be making life-or-death decisions.

 

[Sukerkin]

From a somewhat different 'culture', I have to say that this one raised an eyebrow. By random fluctuation in a single comparsion of a few month period between years the conclusion is reached that there is a problem!? .

I concur that a doubling is a significant statistical change but the sample is so small that no serious statistician would put that forward as evidence of anything other than the vagaries of chance.

That's leaving aside the fact that these are cases that have been ruled legitimate! We're not talking Vigilante Justice a la Charles Bronson here - these are certified self-defence homicides. I would've thought it to be a good thing that non-criminals are alive and those setting out to break the law are not ... or am I just stupid?

 

[MA-Caver]

Well, Memphis is considered one of the nations more violent cities, along with Detroit, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, certain areas of NYC, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, and so on. But then look at the populations of these violent cities. The violence is probably in proportion. But considering that the number of citizens committing "justifiable homicide" is up 50% means that there are probably more CWP owners there. Either that or more CWP owners are getting themselves into situations that they ought to have not found themselves in.
Shesulsa is right the idea is to minimize the number of killings from a political point of view. But at least people are beginning to defend themselves like they ought to IMO. Also good that the killings are investigated are found to be "justifiable homicides" instead of manslaughter charges being brought up.

 

[theletch1]

What really bothers me about that article (really the quote on Thardey's post) is that most of the murders are the result of domestic violence. That, for some reason, really bothers me.

 

[elder999]

I dunno-if justified homicide is up 50%, doesn't it also follow that there has been an increase in crimes which lead to justifiable homicide, and that it is those crimes that they are speaking of preventing?

I mean, I followed the article, and there's definitely an anti-gun bias on the part of the reporter-as well as what quotes she used from the police remember, she only reported what she wanted to use, not necessarily everything they said. Though I can say that the police don't seem to usually like citizens killing other citizens, except under the most unambiguous of circumstances.

 

[Grenadier]

It really shouldn't be a cause for alarm.

If a killing were judged to be justified, then the person who performed the justified homicide was well within his right to do so, in a manner that is consistent with the "prudent person" wording.

Thardey makes a good point... Even if the criminals in the justified homicides weren't killed this year, they would probably be dead in a later year anyways, only this time, maybe shot by another gangbanger in an "unjustified" manner.

 

[Ninjamom]

5 more 'justified homicides' means 5 fewer innocent victims murdered.

 

[Deaf Smith]

You guys need to take a look at Rangemasters and Tom Givens in Memphis.

http://www.rangemaster.com/

His students have been in over 50 shootings (all were legaly justifiable.) At the NTI (National Tactical Invitational) he gave a discourse on seven of the shootings, what happend, what worked, and what didn't (well actually they all worked quite well..)

Say what we might about martial arts, his students, all CCW carriers, have used their guns to defend themselves and others in many violent encounters.

Deaf

 

[KenpoTex]

You guys need to take a look at Rangemasters and Tom Givens in Memphis.

http://www.rangemaster.com/

His students have been in over 50 shootings (all were legaly justifiable.) At the NTI (National Tactical Invitational) he gave a discourse on seven of the shootings, what happend, what worked, and what didn't (well actually they all worked quite well..)

Say what we might about martial arts, his students, all CCW carriers, have used their guns to defend themselves and others in many violent encounters.

Deaf

And if I remember correctly, his students enjoy about a 90% hit rate compared to 20-50% for most LEO's.

Tom is on my list of "people I need to train with."