CDZ Should prisoners be released from jail and prison over the Chinese virus?

[Bob Blaylock]

Yes, I did. I just don't consider continuing to lock up a senior citizen for something he did 26 year ago makes a lot of sense...

If he'd been put to death, like he should have in any sane society for so horrific a crime, then that wouldn't be an issue.

He should never have been allowed to live to be old enough that someone could play the “senior citizen” card in a bid to elicit entirely-undeserved and unwarranted sympathy for him.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Would you feel the same if President Trump were to order the release of Paul Manafort, a disabled senior citizen and first time offender who seems very unlikely to re-offend?

Not really. He hasn't been punished yet. This other guy already spent 26 years in prison.

And frankly, I'm not sure Manafort wouldn't reoffend.

He spread terrifying fear into a woman with four kids broke into her home.

Nothing is personal as stabbing someone with a knife in there own home.

He spent 26 years in prison for killing one woman. Jason Van Dyke shot a kid 16 times and he's only going to spend 3 years in prison. Seems reasonable to me that he's been sufficiently punished and punishing him further would just risk his health and the health of others.

n.....when you are in prison, you are locked up.....you only have other prisoners to attack.....so your behavior in a highly controlled environment.......doesn't support any kind of behavior you may engage in when you are let loose on your own....you moron.......at 64 he is more than capable of murdering more people,

You don't know what you are talking about.

He should have gotten the death penalty.

Nobody should get the death penalty. I am amazed that you don't think Government should control who can have a gun, but you think the government should be able to decide who dies or not. How does that work?

Point was, this guy was in prison for 26 years, he was a model prisoner, he served a lot longer than most prisoners have for the same crime, and there's really no point in keeping him in prison when Covid-19 might not only endanger his health but the health of other inmates.

Jason was a Chicago cop who was in the line of duty protecting citizens from a punk kid refusing to put down his knife, he shouldn't of served a day in prison.

 

[2aguy]

Would you feel the same if President Trump were to order the release of Paul Manafort, a disabled senior citizen and first time offender who seems very unlikely to re-offend?

Not really. He hasn't been punished yet. This other guy already spent 26 years in prison.

And frankly, I'm not sure Manafort wouldn't reoffend.

He spread terrifying fear into a woman with four kids broke into her home.

Nothing is personal as stabbing someone with a knife in there own home.

He spent 26 years in prison for killing one woman. Jason Van Dyke shot a kid 16 times and he's only going to spend 3 years in prison. Seems reasonable to me that he's been sufficiently punished and punishing him further would just risk his health and the health of others.

n.....when you are in prison, you are locked up.....you only have other prisoners to attack.....so your behavior in a highly controlled environment.......doesn't support any kind of behavior you may engage in when you are let loose on your own....you moron.......at 64 he is more than capable of murdering more people,

You don't know what you are talking about.

He should have gotten the death penalty.

Nobody should get the death penalty. I am amazed that you don't think Government should control who can have a gun, but you think the government should be able to decide who dies or not. How does that work?

Point was, this guy was in prison for 26 years, he was a model prisoner, he served a lot longer than most prisoners have for the same crime, and there's really no point in keeping him in prison when Covid-19 might not only endanger his health but the health of other inmates.

A model prisoner under complete control.......you want him roaming free among innocent people.......the point to keeping him in prison is so he doesn't murder anyone else......

What is it with you left wingers....you want to let actual criminals roam free, and lock up normal gun owners who commit no crime of any sort with their legally owned guns..........?

We have murder in our country, in particular gun murder, because members of the democrat party keep releasing violent killers back onto our streets......

 

[Canon Shooter]

You've got a prison population which can be isolated from the outside. Visitation can be suspended, thereby keeping anyone from the outside bringing Covid-19 into the prison.

Test all inmates and test all corrections staff. Those prisoners who test positive are put into isolation and treated. Corrections staff who test positive are sent home and treated.

Someone already put a man on the moon, all the hard shit's done. No reason to overthink this, and there's sure as Hell no reason to release anyone...

 

[JoeB131]

So what?

He's a subhuman piece of @shit, who brutally robbed and murdered an old woman. His kind should never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, be allowed to go free again. His kind shouldn't even be allowed to continue living, very far past the point where their guilt has been adequately established. He's a perfect example of someone whose sentence should have been served at the end of a rope.

Again, same question to you, should Jason Van Dyke be at the end of a rope? He was a Chicago Cop who shot a kid 16 times, lied about it, filed false reports on the incidents and he got a whopping 3 years in prison for it.

That you would even defend setting this subhuman animal loose tells us everything that we need to know about your own character, albeit nothing that we didn't already all know.

That I think it's ridiculous to punish someone for an excessive amount of time. He spent 26 years in prison. The average time spent in prison for murder in this country is 13 years.

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tssp16.pdf

As I said before, I don't know that you'r a criminal, yourself, but it is certainly obvious that in terms of your mental and ethical and moral character, you are much, much more similar to the very worst of criminals, than you are to any law-abiding citizen. That is why, everywhere it's come down to it, you've openly taken the side of criminals, against the side of their victims or potential victims; and why you almost certainly always will.

I don't have a side, buddy, I have pragmatism. The PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX doesn't work. It doesn't reduce crime, it doesn't make us any safer. This guy is being let go because at 64, he's less dangerous than the people we are locking up now.

I live in a state where we put 16 people on Death Row who didn't do what they were accused of. Mostly because the police were corrupt or incompetent.

 

[JoeB131]

A model prisoner under complete control.......you want him roaming free among innocent people.......the point to keeping him in prison is so he doesn't murder anyone else......

Actually, thousands of people are murdered in prison... so, no, he's not under complete control unless he chooses to be.

What is it with you left wingers....you want to let actual criminals roam free, and lock up normal gun owners who commit no crime of any sort with their legally owned guns..........?

One more time, buddy. If Guns and Prisons were the answer, we'd have the LOWEST murder rate in the industrialized world, not the highest. Everyone else HAS FIGURED THIS OUT. Citizens don't get guns unless they really need them, and you only lock people up if they are really dangerous. So we have 20,000 homicides a year (15,000 with guns) and they have maybe 500. this isn't complicated.

You've got a prison population which can be isolated from the outside. Visitation can be suspended, thereby keeping anyone from the outside bringing Covid-19 into the prison.

Test all inmates and test all corrections staff. Those prisoners who test positive are put into isolation and treated. Corrections staff who test positive are sent home and treated.

Okay, here's the problem with that. How often do you test people? Because we already have a shortage of tests and a backlog on processing the kits. As for sending people home (because there will be a lot of false positives) Prisons are ALREADY understaffed. So instead of doing the sensible thing, of releasing non-violent offenders or people you would have let out on bail if they had money, you want to continue to expose people to COVID-19 with diminished staff less likely to control them?

 

[Wyatt earp]

You've got a prison population which can be isolated from the outside. Visitation can be suspended, thereby keeping anyone from the outside bringing Covid-19 into the prison.

Test all inmates and test all corrections staff. Those prisoners who test positive are put into isolation and treated. Corrections staff who test positive are sent home and treated.

Someone already put a man on the moon, all the hard shit's done. No reason to overthink this, and there's sure as Hell no reason to release anyone...

Joe does have a point, massive cook county jail in Chicago, is a haven for the virus..

Last I read 150 jail guards tested positive, 256 inmates and most the inmates there are just waiting for trial some innocent, some guilty

 

[Mac-7]

The chinese disease is everywhere

so letting convicted criminals out of jail does not reduce their risk

except that the science proves that Trump Plague spreads faster when people are concentrated, and they aren't any more concentrated than they are in prison.

So letting people out who've served enough time or didn't do anything all that serious, you know, kind of makes sense.

Unless liberals plan to break up the urban centers like NYC and other large cities the released criminals are going to congregate anyway

 

[2aguy]

So what?

He's a subhuman piece of @shit, who brutally robbed and murdered an old woman. His kind should never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, be allowed to go free again. His kind shouldn't even be allowed to continue living, very far past the point where their guilt has been adequately established. He's a perfect example of someone whose sentence should have been served at the end of a rope.

Again, same question to you, should Jason Van Dyke be at the end of a rope? He was a Chicago Cop who shot a kid 16 times, lied about it, filed false reports on the incidents and he got a whopping 3 years in prison for it.

That you would even defend setting this subhuman animal loose tells us everything that we need to know about your own character, albeit nothing that we didn't already all know.

That I think it's ridiculous to punish someone for an excessive amount of time. He spent 26 years in prison. The average time spent in prison for murder in this country is 13 years.

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tssp16.pdf

As I said before, I don't know that you'r a criminal, yourself, but it is certainly obvious that in terms of your mental and ethical and moral character, you are much, much more similar to the very worst of criminals, than you are to any law-abiding citizen. That is why, everywhere it's come down to it, you've openly taken the side of criminals, against the side of their victims or potential victims; and why you almost certainly always will.

I don't have a side, buddy, I have pragmatism. The PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX doesn't work. It doesn't reduce crime, it doesn't make us any safer. This guy is being let go because at 64, he's less dangerous than the people we are locking up now.

I live in a state where we put 16 people on Death Row who didn't do what they were accused of. Mostly because the police were corrupt or incompetent.

That kid wasn't a kid, he had a knife, you dope........ and Van Dyke didn't murder the kid he shot him as a reaction to the situation created by the man with the knife, acting erratically and high on drugs........you leave that out of the equation...

Vs. the 38 year old who murdered a 78 year old woman in cold blood......

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Would you feel the same if President Trump were to order the release of Paul Manafort, a disabled senior citizen and first time offender who seems very unlikely to re-offend?

Not really. He hasn't been punished yet. This other guy already spent 26 years in prison.

And frankly, I'm not sure Manafort wouldn't reoffend.

Manafort is in prison for a property crime. Just like those who you think should be released, who you think shouldn't have been put in prison to begin with.

If you were consistent, then you'd have to take the position that Manafort no more belongs in prison than any common thief.

He spread terrifying fear into a woman with four kids broke into her home.

Nothing is personal as stabbing someone with a knife in there own home.

He spent 26 years in prison for killing one woman.

Not nearly enough, for the crime that he committed. That subhuman piece of shit should have been put to death a long time ago. Failing that, he ought have been left to rot and die in prison.

Only a subhuman criminal-loving piece of shit could agree that it is justifiable to turn this animal loose ever again.

Jason Van Dyke shot a kid 16 times and he's only going to spend 3 years in prison. Seems reasonable to me that he's been sufficiently punished and punishing him further would just risk his health and the health of others.

Different case, but if Mr. Van Dyke truly murdered that kid, without any just cause to at least seriously mitigate the circumstances of his crime, then he ought to be put to death as well, and in any event, should never, ever be set free.

Point was, this guy was in prison for 26 years, he was a model prisoner, he served a lot longer than most prisoners have for the same crime, and there's really no point in keeping him in prison when Covid-19 might not only endanger his health but the health of other inmates.

So what? He's a murderous subhuman piece of shit, who brutally robbed and murdered an old lady. He should have been put to death a long time ago. He certainly never, under any circumstances, should be allowed to go free again. Never.

 

[2aguy]

A model prisoner under complete control.......you want him roaming free among innocent people.......the point to keeping him in prison is so he doesn't murder anyone else......

Actually, thousands of people are murdered in prison... so, no, he's not under complete control unless he chooses to be.

What is it with you left wingers....you want to let actual criminals roam free, and lock up normal gun owners who commit no crime of any sort with their legally owned guns..........?

One more time, buddy. If Guns and Prisons were the answer, we'd have the LOWEST murder rate in the industrialized world, not the highest. Everyone else HAS FIGURED THIS OUT. Citizens don't get guns unless they really need them, and you only lock people up if they are really dangerous. So we have 20,000 homicides a year (15,000 with guns) and they have maybe 500. this isn't complicated.

You've got a prison population which can be isolated from the outside. Visitation can be suspended, thereby keeping anyone from the outside bringing Covid-19 into the prison.

Test all inmates and test all corrections staff. Those prisoners who test positive are put into isolation and treated. Corrections staff who test positive are sent home and treated.

Okay, here's the problem with that. How often do you test people? Because we already have a shortage of tests and a backlog on processing the kits. As for sending people home (because there will be a lot of false positives) Prisons are ALREADY understaffed. So instead of doing the sensible thing, of releasing non-violent offenders or people you would have let out on bail if they had money, you want to continue to expose people to COVID-19 with diminished staff less likely to control them?

People like you keep releasing violent repeat offenders......that is the reason we have gun crime in this country. You lie about locking people up gets old....it doesn't do any good if you keep releasing the most violent repeat offenders....they go out and murder people with guns.......so temporarily locking them up doesn't count.

Those non-violent offenders are offenders who had their gun charges plea bargained away to get easier convictions.....they are violent criminals whose violence is hidden from the public by the democrat party prosecutors who drop gun charges over and over again.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

What is it with you left wingers....you want to let actual criminals roam free, and lock up normal gun owners who commit no crime of any sort with their legally owned guns..........?

We have murder in our country, in particular gun murder, because members of the democrat party keep releasing violent killers back onto our streets......

I think it's obvious, and has been so for a very long time.

They are not on the side of honest, decent, productive, law-abiding citizens. Whenever it gets down to it, they always betray us, in order to side with criminals, perverts, foreign invaders, drug abusers, baby-killers, and other subhuman filth. What we are seeing in this thread is just one example of this.

 

[JoeB131]

Unless liberals plan to break up the urban centers like NYC and other large cities the released criminals are going to congregate anyway

Perhaps... but they are probably going to hide in their homes like everyone else is doing, as opposed being locked up with thousands of other people in unsanitary conditions.

That kid wasn't a kid, he had a knife, you dope........ and Van Dyke didn't murder the kid he shot him as a reaction to the situation created by the man with the knife, acting erratically and high on drugs........you leave that out of the equation...

A jury found him guilty of murder, buddy. So, um, yeah, he murdered that kid. Oh, LaQuan McDonald was 17 years old. Not old enough to vote, join the military or buy a six pack. The "knife" he had was a 3 inch pocket knife.

Different case, but if Mr. Van Dyke truly murdered that kid, without any just cause to at least seriously mitigate the circumstances of his crime, then he ought to be put to death as well, and in any event, should never, ever be set free.

Here's the thing. OFFICER Van Dyke was armed by the City of Chicago, which paid all of his legal expenses and paid out a 6 million dollar settlement to the kids' family to shut them up. (It didn't work).

So either you support executing him or you don't. I don't support executing either one of them. Three years is actually a sufficient punishment for sucking at being a cop. In my ideal world, he would have been fired one of the 20 other times he violated the civil rights of people of color.

So what? He's a murderous subhuman piece of shit, who brutally robbed and murdered an old lady. He should have been put to death a long time ago. He certainly never, under any circumstances, should be allowed to go free again. Never.

So by your logic, even though he is no longer a danger, we should keep him in jail where me might infect a shoplifter or a grafitti tagger who couldn't make bail? This is logical by you?

 

[JoeB131]

People like you keep releasing violent repeat offenders......that is the reason we have gun crime in this country.

No, we have gun crime in this country because the gun industry has flooded our streets with cheap guns.

We've been over this. Every other country bans guns and only locks up truly dangerous people. They don't have our problems.

 

[2aguy]

Unless liberals plan to break up the urban centers like NYC and other large cities the released criminals are going to congregate anyway

Perhaps... but they are probably going to hide in their homes like everyone else is doing, as opposed being locked up with thousands of other people in unsanitary conditions.

That kid wasn't a kid, he had a knife, you dope........ and Van Dyke didn't murder the kid he shot him as a reaction to the situation created by the man with the knife, acting erratically and high on drugs........you leave that out of the equation...

A jury found him guilty of murder, buddy. So, um, yeah, he murdered that kid. Oh, LaQuan McDonald was 17 years old. Not old enough to vote, join the military or buy a six pack. The "knife" he had was a 3 inch pocket knife.

Different case, but if Mr. Van Dyke truly murdered that kid, without any just cause to at least seriously mitigate the circumstances of his crime, then he ought to be put to death as well, and in any event, should never, ever be set free.

Here's the thing. OFFICER Van Dyke was armed by the City of Chicago, which paid all of his legal expenses and paid out a 6 million dollar settlement to the kids' family to shut them up. (It didn't work).

So either you support executing him or you don't. I don't support executing either one of them. Three years is actually a sufficient punishment for sucking at being a cop. In my ideal world, he would have been fired one of the 20 other times he violated the civil rights of people of color.

So what? He's a murderous subhuman piece of shit, who brutally robbed and murdered an old lady. He should have been put to death a long time ago. He certainly never, under any circumstances, should be allowed to go free again. Never.

So by your logic, even though he is no longer a danger, we should keep him in jail where me might infect a shoplifter or a grafitti tagger who couldn't make bail? This is logical by you?

You can join the military at 17, I did. He did not kill in cold blood. The situation was created by the man with the knife who was high on drugs, running around cutting things with that knife.........

Your buddy murdered a 78 year old woman in cold blood and you want to release him so he can do it again....

 

[2aguy]

People like you keep releasing violent repeat offenders......that is the reason we have gun crime in this country.

No, we have gun crime in this country because the gun industry has flooded our streets with cheap guns.

We've been over this. Every other country bans guns and only locks up truly dangerous people. They don't have our problems.

View attachment 321575

The democrat party and their policies are directly responsible for gun crime in this country..........they create policies and implement them through democrat party judges and prosecutors that release violent, repeat gun offenders back on the street where they eventually murder people with guns....they are the problem......not normal people who buy guns for self defense, sport and hunting......

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Again, same question to you, should Jason Van Dyke be at the end of a rope? He was a Chicago Cop who shot a kid 16 times, lied about it, filed false reports on the incidents and he got a whopping 3 years in prison for it.

If circumstances are as you paint them, then absolutely, yes. Any murderer, all murderers, should be put to death, once their guilt is sufficiently established. Under no circumstances should they ever be allowed to go free again, ever. That is, unless there are some really spectacular mitigating circumstances, involved in their reasons for having committed their crimes.

It appears, however, that there is some serious doubt as to whether the circumstances around Mr. Van Dyke are as you paint them.

That I think it's ridiculous to punish someone for an excessive amount of time. He spent 26 years in prison. The average time spent in prison for murder in this country is 13 years.

Thirteen years is not enough of a punishment for murder. Twenty-six years is not enough. As far as I am concerned, it is not possible to live long enough, to serve a long enough prison sentence, to be adequate punishment for a murder. That's a crime that nobody should ever be able to commit,and expect to ever be allowed to go free again. That's a crime that nobody should be able to commit, and expect to be allowed to live very long past the point where his guilt has been sufficiently proven.

Needlessly, willfully, and unjustifiably taking the life of another human being is pretty much the ultimate crime, and it calls for nothing less than the ultimate punishment.

 

[2aguy]

People like you keep releasing violent repeat offenders......that is the reason we have gun crime in this country.

No, we have gun crime in this country because the gun industry has flooded our streets with cheap guns.

We've been over this. Every other country bans guns and only locks up truly dangerous people. They don't have our problems.

View attachment 321575

Wrong.......those countries are now having gun problems because their criminal populations are getting more violent and fighting over drug turf..........you don't know what you are talking about.

 

[Canon Shooter]

Okay, here's the problem with that. How often do you test people? Because we already have a shortage of tests and a backlog on processing the kits.

Well, certainly they get an initial test.

If those inmates who test positive are isolated from those who test negative, that pretty much solves the inmate problem. We shouldn't not test them because they're backlogged. That makes zero sense...

As for sending people home (because there will be a lot of false positives) Prisons are ALREADY understaffed. So instead of doing the sensible thing, of releasing non-violent offenders or people you would have let out on bail if they had money, you want to continue to expose people to COVID-19 with diminished staff less likely to control them?

Yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

I don't see releasing them as sensible at all. Are you going to test them first? Or are you just going to swing the gates open and let them run free? If you test them first, what do you do with them if they test positive? They're a ward of the state, so it makes sense that the state has the responsibility to deal with them. Isolating them sets them apart from those who don't have it. By separatinig them, you remove the need to let anyone go free. And, let's face it, they're in prison. There's probably good reason for that...

 

[2aguy]

People like you keep releasing violent repeat offenders......that is the reason we have gun crime in this country.

No, we have gun crime in this country because the gun industry has flooded our streets with cheap guns.

We've been over this. Every other country bans guns and only locks up truly dangerous people. They don't have our problems.

View attachment 321575

Those countries you say don't have gun crime.....now have gun crime and it is getting worse.......the culture of their criminal underclass has changed as they fight for power and drug turf....

Reports of 'heavy gunfire' on the streets of French city of Nimes | Daily Mail Online

Machine-gun shots have been heard on the streets of a French city this evening as it was claimed a 'shootout' took place between rival gangs.

Repeated 'heavy gunfire' bursts were let off in the city of Nimes in southern France after armed men were seen in the area.

Social media videos showed several people running through the street as shots rang out at around 8.30pm.

Initial reports suggested the shooting could have been linked to gangs operating in the area.

Residents in a suburb of Pissevin district in the city claimed gang members shot at a building occupied by a rival group.

Britain...


Gun-Free Britain? Nearly 10,000 Gun Crimes Committed in One Year

The number of gun crimes committed in the United Kingdom has increased by 27 per cent in five years and the number of firearms seized has quadrupled, despite the country having some of the strictest gun control laws in the world.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 9,787 crimes were committed with firearms in the year leading to March of 2019. The number of offences has risen by four per cent over the previous year and twenty-seven per cent in five years, the latest statistics available show.
-----

A middle-eastern gun runner told the news outlet that it is “easy” to bring guns to Britain and that he can sell the weapons for over £2,000, four times as much as he purchases them for in Europe.

The smuggler said that he travels to France and picks up the guns from migrant camps in Calais before shipping them back to the UK.
=======
New Zealand.........

Tauranga shootings: Armed police sent in to battle increasing violence in the city

The deaths are the latest in an uptick of crime in the Bay of Plenty, following the arrival of the notorious Mongols Motorcycle Club in the area.

Their arrival stoked simmering tensions with established Tauranga gangs like the Greazy Dogs and the Mongrel Mob, with police warning the newcomers - hardened from inter-gang warfare with firearms - would radically change the criminal landscape.

Tuesday's homicide was the latest in a series of brazen shootings involving semi-automatic firearms, with a suspected arson along a row of the Bay of Plenty shops last month.

Nash said the Government was pouring more resources into policing the Bay of Plenty, targeting gangs and organised crime.
----

"What's happening there is happening all around the country. Since March last year police have seized more than 2,000 illegal firearms from gangs and other criminals."

Armed officers dressed in body armour are about to hit the streets as police step up their response to increased gang rivalry and violent crime in Tauranga.

Police Minister Stuart Nash said the escalated response was a temporary measure aimed at tackling the latest flare-up between gangs. It also comes the day after two men where shot dead at a property in Omanawa.

"Expect to see police openly carrying their Bushmaster rifles and Glock pistols. Expect to see police wearing their new body armour," he said in a statement.


New Zealand....

'People are fearful': New Zealand police admit gang violence is out of control

Officers in Hawkes Bay, a region on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, are to be armed – police do not routinely carry guns in New Zealand – and have a more visible presence, with officers brought in from other areas, after shots were fired during a gang brawl in Taradale, Napier, on Sunday.

A 25-year-old man injured in the brawl was due to appear in court on Wednesday and police said more arrests were likely. Another shooting took place further north on Saturday, near the town of Ruatoria in the Bay of Plenty. Police said it was also gang-related.

The number of gang members in Hawkes Bay has increased by 30% to 35% in the past two or three years, according to police. Officers said on Wednesday they had arrested more gang members for unlawfully carrying weapons, including in an episode where members had “converged” on the Hawkes Bay town of Wairoa.
-----

In Saturday’s street brawl in Taradale, Stuff reported that residents “ducked for cover in shops and cafes” as shots rang out – one hitting a child’s car seat. The child was unharmed.

“We don’t know why they happened. It could be drugs, could be tit for tat, it’s stuff we will never know,” Kura said. It would be “horrendous” if a child was hurt.

Sweden...

Gangs of the North

Sweden’s disadvantaged
Both the perpetrators and the victims in Sweden’s gang wars are predominately young men from socially disadvantaged areas in the larger cities for the country. The suspects mostly have a migration background, but they have been born and raised in Sweden, representing the 2nd or 3rd generation of immigrants. As the Prime Minister Stefan Löfven recently pointed out, socio-economic factors are in part responsible.

Sweden is a deeply segregated society. Swedes with migrant backgrounds are often poorly integrated, live in socially deprived areas of the major Swedish cities and are trapped in a cycle of poverty, school failure and unemployment. These conditions did however not emerge overnight. They have crystallised over a long period time, questioning the amount of attention of Swedish that politics has paid to tackling integration problems.
-----

The quest for status is predominant. Violence is described as a currency useful in the competition for reputation vis-à-vis their peers.

Gun violence has become an investment in one’s own criminal career. Carrying a gun is seen as a means for personal protection. As a result, a viscous circle has ensued. Gun violence escalates and everyone feels being at risk and is constantly afraid.
----

A culture of silence (omerta) is seen reigning in relation to authorities. This is a major factor in the low clearance rate of gang related homicides. While the overall clearance rate of homicides in Sweden for a long time has been between 75 and 90 per cent, it is much lower in connection with the shootings at just above 20 per cent.
-----

Drug turf wars

The shootings are to a large extent connected to the drug market.


The report from the National Council for Crime Prevention states that ‘the picture provided by the material is that drug sales, at different levels, constitute the dominant criminal activity in the milieu. Several interview subjects have also sold guns.

Sales of both drugs and guns are repeatedly described as a job and the interview subjects underscore the need for knowledge and skill.’


The road into selling drugs is easy. Cannabis is available and it is no big step to start using it and dealing. After a while, conflicts arise around customers and payments and the seller has to claim his territory.

Clear causes to the shootings are difficult to detect. Increased availability of firearms has been mentioned as a cause, but if so without further analysis of why there was a sudden increase. Possibly a few shootings for one reason or another started a circle of revenge and created the need to arm oneself for protection. The low clearance rate could also be an explanation for the continued shootings.

======


https://www.thelocal.se/20200203/explosions-interview-police-stefan-hector-sweden

Why are there so many explosions in Sweden?

"We've seen, over the last couple of years, that the amount of explosions in Sweden have risen to a level not seen anywhere else in Europe. The reasons, or underlying cause, are criminals clashing.

"They range from conflicts of a rational character, like market shares for the illegal narcotics trade, or more personal, such as provocations or insults, old conflicts with causes long-forgotten. Nevertheless, the explosions are an expression of clashes between criminal elements.

"These criminal elements are in large part comprised of street gangs from 'vulnerable areas' in the suburbs but also what we sometimes refer to as 'biker gangs'. There is, however, a lot of overlap between these two groups so as a whole this is about conflicts between different criminal networks."
-----

How do your colleagues abroad view this development in Sweden?

"They are astonished. The prevailing picture of Sweden is that it is a calm and stable country and these expressions of violence, which are without equal, at least in Europe, is a surprise to our neighbouring countries.

"We have ongoing collaboration with many of the European countries, especially with the Nordic countries, and no one has the same kind of problems which is why this is a perplexing and possibly even frightening issue. But they are actively seeking more knowledge and are discussing these issues with us in order to share experiences and trying to understand this phenomenon."

You talked about seizures of other weapons, beside explosives. Recently a Bosnian man in the US got sentenced to prison for smuggling weapon parts to, among others, Swedish neo-nazis. How common are criminal international networks when it comes to Swedish gunrunning?

"From what I've seen, one of the most common guns in criminal clashes in Sweden is the AK 47, and they aren't manufactured here. Which means that it needs to be smuggled into the country, so in that sense international players are contributing to shootings in Sweden. These kinds of guns usually come from the Balkans, as they have a surplus of weapons from past decades of conflict."

Are those the kind of weapons you usually seize or are, for example, Swedish hunting weapons also confiscated?

"No. Swedish hunting rifles are extremely rare in these kinds of contexts, it's usually assault rifles such as the AK 47, pistols or submachine guns. It is very, very rare that we see hunting weapons as a part of our work with Operation Hoarfrost."


Canada...

Why Gun Violence Is Surging In Toronto

According to Canada's government statistics agency, gun violence overall rose by more than 40% in Canada between 2013 and 2017, with much of that increase driven by incidents in Toronto.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders says that the city's recent gun violence has been connected to gang activity.

In a press conference in August, he said the Raptors incident and the August shootings "by and large have street gang connotations to them," pointing to the gang membership of the victims and those arrested. There is a thriving gang culture in Toronto centered on the illegal drug trade, largely in the city's poorer outer suburbs.


Britain..


Police struggle to stop flood of firearms into UK

Police and border officials are struggling to stop a rising supply of illegal firearms being smuggled into Britain, a senior police chief has warned.

Chief constable Andy Cooke, the national police lead for serious and organised crime, said law enforcement had seen an increased supply of guns over the past year, and feared that it would continue in 2019

The Guardian has learned that the situation is so serious that the National Crime Agency has taken the rare step of using its legal powers to direct every single police force to step up the fight against illegal guns.

The NCA has used tasking powers to direct greater intelligence about firearms to be gathered by all 43 forces in England and Wales.

Another senior law enforcement official said that “new and clean” weapons were now being used in the majority of shootings, as opposed to guns once being so difficult to obtain that they would be “rented out” to be used in multiple crimes.

Cooke, the Merseyside chief constable, told the Guardian: “We in law enforcement expect the rise in new firearms to continue. We are doing all we can. We are not in a position to stop it anytime soon.

“Law enforcement is more joined up now than before, but the scale of the problem is such that despite a number of excellent firearms seizures, I expect the rise in supply to be a continuing issue.”

The increasing supply of guns belies problems with UK border security and innovations by organised crime gangs. Smugglers have increasingly found new ways and innovative routes to get guns past border defences.


Cooke said that the dynamics of the streets of British cities had changed and that criminals were more willing to use guns: “If they bring them in people will buy them. It’s a kudos thing for organised criminals.”

Simon Brough, head of firearms at the NCA, said: “The majority of guns being used are new, clean firearms ... which indicates a relatively fluid supply.”

He said shotguns were 40% of the total, with an increase in burglaries to try and steal them.

Handguns are the next biggest category, most often smuggled in from overseas, with ferry ports such as Dover being a popular entry point into the UK for organised crime groups:

“We’re doing a lot to fight back against it,” Brough said, adding that compared to other European countries, the availability in the UK was relatively lower.
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France...

ris attacks highlight France's gun control problems

The arsenal of weapons deployed by the eight attackers who terrorised Paris on Friday night underlined France’s gun control problems and raised the spectre of further attacks.

The country has extremely strict weapons laws, but Europe’s open borders and growing trade in illegal weapons means assault rifles are relatively easy to come by on the black market.


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France’s real gun problem

Despite these strict laws, France seems to be awash with guns. The guns used in high-profile terror attacks are really just the tip of the iceberg. In 2012, French authorities estimated that there were around 30,000 guns illegally in the country, many likely used by gangs for criminal activities. Of those guns, around 4,000 were likely to be "war weapons," Le Figaro reported, referring to items such as the Kalashnikov AK-variant rifles and Uzis. Statistics from the National Observatory for Delinquency, a government body created in 2003, suggest that the number of guns in France has grown by double digits every year.
Sweden.....

IN DEPTH: What's behind the rise in gang violence across Sweden?

The weapon of choice for gangs are Kalashnikov automatic rifles. Imported from the Balkans, they are available for between 2,500 and 3,500 euros (around $2,800 to $3,950), although they become "more expensive in the event of an open conflict," according to Appelgren.
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Honour, debts, and prestige are serving as the pretext for an increasing number of deadly shootings that challenge the ideals of equality and social harmony on which modern Sweden was built.
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Last year more than 300 shootings resulted in 45 deaths and 135 injuries in Sweden.

While the overall homicide rate remains one of the lowest in the world, with one per 100,000 inhabitants according to police statistics, deadly shootings have been steadily rising and last year reached record levels. 2019 is also on track to create another unwanted record. In Stockholm the first six months of the year have seen as many killings as the whole of 2018.
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Sweden suffers surge in bomb attacks as gang violence rises

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A surge in drug-linked gang-violence in Sweden led to a 60% increase in bomb blasts in 2019, government statistics showed on Thursday, as police work to rid the streets of explosives and guns with more officers on patrol.
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Sweden has been hit by a wave of shootings and bombings over the past couple of years which police have linked to gang conflicts in major cities, shocking Swedes, who have long considered their country one of the safest in the world.

Some 257 bomb attacks were reported to police last year, up from 162 the previous year, the statistics from the National Council for Crime Prevention showed.
Japan....

The Great Japanese Gang Wars



The season for pineapples (yakuza slang for hand grenades) may finally be over. Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky on the bloody, seven-year battle between the Dojin-kai and the Seido-kai.



In Southern Japan, the brutal pineapple season may finally be over; pineapple is yakuza slang for “hand grenade”—one of the many weapons utilized in a seven-year gang war between the Dojin-kai (1,000 members) and the splinter group the Kyushu Seido-kei (500 members).

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The Gangs That Couldn’t Shoot Straight
The Dojin-kai and the Seido-kai are Kyushu-based yakuza gangs, once part of the same faction founded in 1971 in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, by Isoji Koga. When the second generation Dojin-kai boss Seijiro Matsuo retired in May 2006, there was a fight over succession, and the group split into two factions, sparking a bloody gang war—where escalation seemed a matter of course. It started with shootings and bombs being thrown, and before it ended, the two gangs were lobbing grenades and Molotov cocktails, shooting machine guns, and sometimes attacking their own men.
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In May, a 9-year-old child found a hand grenade in a rice field in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture, and took it home, to the astonishment of his father, who handed it over to the local police. According to the police, there were no yakuza headquarters where the grenade was found.

The numbers of grenades used and seized in the war became so problematic that by April 2012, the Fukuoka Prefecture Police became the first in Japan to offer cash rewards to anyone who reported finding a hand grenade.
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TOYAMA – Classes resumed at an elementary school in the city of Toyama on Tuesday amid tight security, a week after a man killed a security guard who worked at the school and a police officer, with a knife and a gun, as well as firing bullets at the school.