{"id":4322,"date":"2021-07-16T16:06:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T23:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4322"},"modified":"2021-07-18T13:11:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T20:11:01","slug":"blaming-the-pandemic-for-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=4322","title":{"rendered":"Blaming The Pandemic For Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fatal drug overdoses set an all time record in 2020, with over 93,000 Americans dying.\u00a0 Just shy of a 30% increase compared to 2019.\u00a0 Maggie Fox of The Philadelphia Tribune quotes<\/a> Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever reported in a 12-month period.\u00a0 These data are chilling. \u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic created a devastating\u00a0 collision of health crises in America.”\u00a0 The Dean of Public Health Practices at Johns Hopkins agreed; “The pandemic had a lot to do with it….but as the pandemic recedes, we are still dealing wit this overdose crisis.”\u00a0 The story went on to discuss the need for treatment programs and controls on over-prescribing doctors.\u00a0 Earlier this year a Washington Post story<\/a> by Devlin Barrett reported that last year America saw the largest one-year increase in homicides since records have been kept.\u00a0 The story notes that the increase in murders was not limited to large cities.\u00a0 Small towns also saw increases of up to 30%.\u00a0 Experts suggested that the collapse of public confidence in police contributed to the increase, but that the pandemic also played a significant role.\u00a0 The head of the National Fraternal Order of Police suggested that changes in criminal justice policy which left more criminals on the street\u00a0 contributed, but that suggestion was discounted by a data analyst who explained that increased murders occurred in places where such reforms had not been implemented.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fatal drug overdoses and homicides are quite different, so why would I combine them in the same post.<\/p>\n

Two reasons. First: most of the 93,000 people who overdosed on fentanyl, heroin, meth and cocaine last year bought those drugs from a dealer.\u00a0 Most of these drugs were smuggled across the U.S. border by criminal cartels and sold to local gangs who market them on the streets.\u00a0 For several years, some of the most populous states and many large cities have backed off on enforcement of or decriminalized drug crimes.\u00a0 At the same time, the Obama Administration released thousands drug dealers from federal prison and refused to aggressively address drug smuggling across our southern border.\u00a0 For most of the Trump Administration, the almost weekly lawsuits by liberal state attorneys general and pro-illegal immigration groups which led to national restraining orders by federal judges blocking border enforcement, assured that the drugs would continue to flow. \u00a0\u00a0As a result, over the past several years there have been far more illegal drugs entering the country and many more fatal overdoses.\u00a0 2020 was probably the easiest year to smuggle, sell and abuse drugs in America since the 1960s in Haight-Ashbury.<\/p>\n

Second:\u00a0 The pandemic and the George Floyd riots drove most law-abiding Americans into their homes and left the streets to the rioters and criminals. Drug gangs and carjackers use guns to enforce their territory and kill whoever gets in their way.\u00a0 Cities and states that forced police to stand down during the rioting and politicians that told black America that police are racists, encouraged thousands of attacks on officers, many of which were fatal. \u00a0 Add to this mix, the release of tens of thousands of criminals from jails and prisons to protect them from getting the virus, the implementation of no-bail policies in New York, Illinois,\u00a0 California and several other states, and you have a huge population of offenders, who know they can break the law with little or no consequences.\u00a0 The so-called experts are surprised by a national spike in homicides?<\/p>\n

Another problem for the “experts” is that the drug overdose and homicide spike we saw last year has continued into 2021.\u00a0 According to the NYPD<\/a>, homicides in New York City are up 26% compared to last year.\u00a0 Rape, assault and auto theft have also increased.\u00a0 The San Francisco Chronicle reports<\/a> that homicides have increased by 36% in the bay area.\u00a0 The article quotes more experts who attribute this to the after-effects of the pandemic including job loss, economic pressures and school closures.\u00a0 No mention of the criminal justice reforms, inmate releases and zero bail which have flooded the streets with criminals.\u00a0 Last month the Los Angeles County Sheriff reported<\/a> that homicides were up 95% over last year.\u00a0 Similar reports are coming from many other U.S. cities.\u00a0 Earlier this week The Washington Post reported<\/a> that fatal drug overdoses have increased this year in Virginia and Maryland and are on track to exceed last year’s record.\u00a0 A scan of news stories from other states finds up to a 30% increase in fatal overdoses compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Watering down the consequences for crime, releasing thousands of criminals, allowing billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs to be smuggled across the southern border and decriminalizing their sale and abuse, and attacking the police, the people who risk their lives every day to protect us from crime, are the major causes for the increased crime we saw last year and continues today.<\/p>\n

With regard to the so-called experts, I am compelled to quote John Wayne;\u00a0 “life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fatal drug overdoses set an all time record in 2020, with over 93,000 Americans dying.\u00a0 Just shy of a 30% increase compared to 2019.\u00a0 Maggie Fox of The Philadelphia Tribune quotes Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever reported in a 12-month period.\u00a0 These data are chilling. \u00a0 The COVID-19 pandemic created a devastating\u00a0 collision of health crises in America.”\u00a0 The Dean of Public Health Practices at Johns Hopkins agreed; “The pandemic had a lot to do with it….but as the pandemic recedes, we are still dealing wit this overdose crisis.”\u00a0 The story went on to discuss the need for treatment programs and controls on over-prescribing doctors.\u00a0 Earlier this year a Washington Post story by Devlin Barrett reported that last year America saw the largest one-year increase in homicides since records have been kept.\u00a0 The story notes that the increase in murders was not limited to large cities.\u00a0 Small towns also saw increases of up to 30%.\u00a0 Experts suggested that the collapse of public confidence in police contributed to the increase, but that the pandemic also played a significant role.\u00a0 The head of the National Fraternal Order of Police suggested that changes in criminal justice policy which left more criminals on the street\u00a0 contributed, but that suggestion was discounted by a data analyst who explained that increased murders occurred in places where such reforms had not been implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\nBlaming The Pandemic For Crime - 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