Crime In The ’90s 

The title to this paper is off-putting, but blatant, accurate, and correct. Police brutality, school violence, as well as shootings, are some of the scariest parts of crime in the nineties, is that it affects our lives NOW. Years later, America still bears the scars of the horrendous decade. Politics, as well as social life, and the outlook people have on our public school system have all changed drastically as a result of these crimes. School violence is by far the tamest of these topics.

But it still holds worth mentioning, as theft, abuse, and shootings become common. In just 1998, 1.6 million thefts were perpetrated against American high school students(Metchik). To make that number matter, 134,180 people were involved in a theft under the age of 18 in 2016.

More kids were stealing, it becomes ‘cool’ and then suddenly you have a million cases of stealing for no proper nor apparent reason. Then schools had so many shootings during this time, it’s horrifying.

The final report from the Safe School Initiative noted that of the school shootings from 1974-2000, twenty-eight of thirty-seven (75.7 percent) occurred during the 1990’s(Metchik). It must have been terrifying to see something like that on the news every few weeks. Sadly, students affected this last fact most of all. In 1996, a study of high school dating found that 59 percent of the students reported physical violence and 96 percent reported psychological intimidation. Fifteen percent of the students admitted to being forced into sexual activity (Metchik). Indeed ]most of the alumni of these high schoolers are at least 44.

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They are blazing a path for us, away from the crime. Officers are more precautious now than ever.

Theft has fallen, school shootings are disastrous but officers are being trained to prevent and stop these incidents, and police are heavily more strict upon abusers in school and teach women that at any moment a talk with a liaison officer can end abuse. Social issues are definitely present. Additionally, the Columbine massacre drastically affected homes, politics, and the economy. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, seniors at Columbine High School, gunned down thirteen lives, and hundreds more were slaughtered in their storm. A hurricane that swallowed minds and triggered explosives and fired bullets, driving conflict into politics, destroying families, and leaving a mark upon the world. Exactly how they wanted it. Dead. 12 students, one teacher. These fiends had planned the killings for over a year, they held hatred of most other people and believed in their own superiority and self-awareness.

The Columbine shooting inspired films, books, songs, plays, and video games. Also inspiring a number of copycat killings, and spamming money to the few who deserve it, and loads more to those who don’t. But the boy’s influence doesn’t stop there. The shooting prompted debates about school security, the decline of religion in education and society, firearms, gun control laws, the influence of “goth” culture, violent video games, films, and heavy metal music. In Colorado, more than five hundred students were expelled for taking weapons to school during that school year, and enforced zero-tolerance policies regarding weapons, even punishing elementary students for drawing pictures of guns (Kopel). Social and political problems spring forth from Columbine. Finally, police brutality.

It was on the rise in the ’90s, along with racial tension. Three cases were troubling and were on news for some time: the torture of Abner Louima in 1997, the beating of Rodney King in 1991, and the shooting of Amadou Diallo in 1999. King was pulled over by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on March 3, 1991, after a high-speed chase. King resisted arrest. Three officers used force to get King in a prone position, but continued to kick him and hit him with metal batons after he was down all while their supervisor watched. This happened to be caught on camera by, George Holliday. The Media began airing the tape, and the entire nation witnessed pure disgusting brutality(Ashley). On August 9, 1997, New York Police Department (NYPD) were dispatched to a disturbance outside a nightclub. A fight broke out, and one of the cops was hit.

Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, was identified and arrested. Officers beat Louima on the way to the precinct and carried on the savagery inside. The offers used some strange methods of interrogation. All to brutal too but in a high school paper. (speaking directly to you, Ms. Bunk, please forgive me for not typing the details. They made me physically sick.) He needed serious medical attention, and an ambulance was called. The Louima case would make national headlines, showing the world how utterly disgusting we are(Ashley). A numerous amount of officers were 100% fine with what happened to the man. And that’s apparently how they are trained to act. Disturbing. On February 4, 1999, four members of the NYPD Street Crimes Unit approached Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from West Africa, because he loosely resembled a rape suspect.

Diallo reached into his back pocket to pull out a wallet, for his I.D., which is to be expected for anyone speaking to police. Fearing that he was reaching for a gun, the officers shot Diallo forty-one times, obviously(Ashley). Then about ten bullets each, firing out of a Glock. There is no room for brutality here. It isn’t brutality at all. It’s Fatality! Whatever the name, this case that made national headlines, pushing for the installation of monitoring devices in patrol cars and an increasing number of citizen review boards created and charged with monitoring police activities. Policing the police. So in response to Crime the ’90s, policing of schools has gone up, Politicians are trying to make a change for school shootings and police brutality (mmhmm), Money has been made off disasters, technology has been monitoring our ‘protectors’. And these changes are the nineties scotch mark, a time non-forgettable.

References

1. Kopel, David B. ‘Columbine massacre.’ The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem, 2009. Salem Online.
2. Ashley, Jeffrey S. ‘Police brutality.’ The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem, 2009. Salem Online
3. Metchik, Eric W. ‘School violence.’ The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem, 2009. Salem Online
4. OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/qa05101.asp?qaDate=2016. Released on December 06, 2017.