Gothamist: NY Crime This Week

Jay Smooth

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 14:09:39 -0500

I think I met that crime spree guy before! Evidently he used to come to our radio station on Saturday mornings, volunteering to answer phones during our fundraising drive. Scary! If he had snapped on a Saturday instead of a Wednesday.......

Patrick Sweeney

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 22:43:05 -0500

The linked site that Edith has pointed to is very good. It's a bit of an urban legend that there were 39 witnesses to the murder of Kitty Genovese who it ignored it. The police response to the first report of the murder was delayed and blaming it on the neighborhood seemed like a good idea at the time. The Natalie Guzman story is strange. One car could be an accident or a murder, but two more cars on Roosevelt Ave at insane speeds driving into a crowd surrounding an injured Guzman on the street -- that doesn't add up.

edith

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 17:41:12 -0500

A Kitty Genovese reference...that's rare. This guy who runs a website all about Kew Gardens has done extensive research on the case (you might almost call it obsessive.)

tien

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:47:14 -0500

ahh...diffusion of responsibility...that's the best! the summer also has to do with people being outside more, hanging out, drinking, etc, etc.

Jen

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:21:00 -0500

Interesting, that's something I'd like to check out. I thought there was a spike of crime during the summer (hot weather, boiling tempers...).

Ron Mwangaguhunga

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:02:12 -0500

I have a theory about this. Every year, just before Thanksgiving, there is a spike in crime. I believe that that this has to do with judges being lenient on criminals. They don't want to put them behing bars for the holidays, so they give them a lesser sentence if the crime wasn't that bad. As a result, from Thanksgiving to about Valentines Day, the violence on the streets is kicked up a notch.