Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Two Stories Suggest to Me Crimes of Impulse are Higher

Yesterday, the Salt Lake Tribune's lead article spoke of how gun deaths in Utah are mostly suicides, which, it occurs to me, are often committed on impulse. Today, the Deseret News website comes along with an article on how domestic violence cases account for many of the homicides. Domestic violence also tends to be a spontaneous thing. These are not planned crimes we are talking about, but crimes where the availability of a weapon is going to be a factor.

Now, Utah has a low enough crime rate, overall, but with crimes of impulse, judging from these two articles, I begin to wonder if the rates are higher. 

Should we be surprised? Should we -- having so many weapons -- be surprised to learn that a high percentage of our gun killings are crimes of impulse?


http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55526844-78/gun-utah-health-deaths.html.csp

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865569730/Domestic-violence-behind-many-of-Utahs-2012-homicides.html?pg=2

No comments:

Post a Comment