According to the FBI, there were 21,570 murders in 2020, with 16,425 in 2019. When we think of rising homicide rates, we think of states like New York and California but in 2020, Montana’s murder rates went up by 84% in one year. South Dakota’s went up by 81%. The most dangerous state is actually Alaska with a crime rate of 885 per 100k people vs New York with 351 per 100k people. There are scores of research as to the hows and whys of murder and murder rates, with all of it being controversial and incomplete. Some say murderers murder because of brain deformities, social issues and mental illness. Others say it’s because of opportunity, demonic influence and the desire to be evil. All murderers have one thing in common, they are generally shunned by society forever. Once someone is convicted of murder it’s as if a veil has been lifted off of them and we see them as something that is not human and not one of us. Murder is seen in our culture as the worst crime and in many religions, the worst sin, and rightly so. No one should have to die from a murderous act. It brings out in us the worst sorrow and anger, as it should. The truth is they are one of us and we need to reconcile that fact.
Cities across the world have been trying to reduce homicides by introducing many community programs and resources for those affected by homicide. They do show some results, but the rates still climb. There are answers if we choose to be brave enough to seek them. When we lock the murderers away and throw away the key, we throw away resources that can help us reduce homicide and crime in general. We forget they are human and have gone through their lifetime of human events that got them where they are now. In a courtroom, everything is black and white, but life isn’t. It’s a lot more complicated, and those “hows” and “whys” develop over a period of time. When a homicide happens, it’s too late. It’s like many dark roads meeting together at one point of no return. If we could somehow close some of those “roads” before someone reaches that dead end. If only there was a way of knowing how. There is, ask the ones who committed the act. Let them be a part of the process to reduce homicides. Let’s stop guessing what went wrong and be brave and listen to them. We think they are not like us, but it just takes one passionate wrong decision for one of us to go to the point of no return.
This blog post will be a continuing series of interviews with those that have been convicted of murder. It is my goal for us to understand them better and to get an idea of their life and the decisions they made that brought them to where they are now. We need their perspectives if we want answers to reducing strong acts of violence. The purpose of Perspectives On Living has been about learning and helping ourselves by seeing other perspectives. It’s about “listening”and not judging. You may know some of the people that will be interviewed and have very strong opinions on them. I’m not asking you to change your opinions. This post is about moving forward. How can we take what we know about these people and look for warning signs? What did they need early on in their lives that could have prevented the horrific outcome for the victim and the perpetrator? What as a culture are we getting wrong? Do we see ourselves going down any of the paths? Let’s be adults and work together to find answers, and make the answers work to find peace.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/murder
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