BT don't get me wrong I wasn't trying to insinuated Rap music being the root of all the criminal problems the United States faces but at the same time it's not helping either.

Those figures take into accout the whole United States and territories. I'll try and find a link to the article...Here's a couple articles I found although not the same one I mentioned above:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3928009.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/296884.stmHere's one on US Poverty:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4198668.stmI'm sorry for using the BBC so much but they report more accurate news about the United States than the US

Agreed...and I'm sorry if it seem that was my take.There are no simple answers...no simple solutions.bt

>Either way, GOOD kids will not>kill others, no matter what they listen to. I think you are right here Don -- but why do some people have so much hate in their life. I couldn't bash or kill a dog in cold blood -- I simply can't imagine how somebody could hurt a fellow human -- I know what it feels like to be hurt physically, so I couldn't do that to someone in cold blood. But I do understand hate - and I guess that I could hate under some circumstances. Hate is a terrible thing. Barry

I have a true story I would like to share with you...Recently I was quite shocked by a visitor we had staying with us.She was a 13 year old girl from Ft Meyers,FL. I always thought that the Naples/Ft Meyers area was a

In the UK there are around 80,000 prisoners today. But two million. What the heck is going on? Presumably this figure is largely bolstered by the 'three strikes' policy?Dan

Dillon,I rarely get involved with these type threads, but I would like to know where you have come up with these figures."For every 100,000 people in America 78,000 are in prison and 10,000 more have some record of some kind."This inplies that 78% of the American population is in prison and another 10% has some type of criminal record. While I realize that there may be an increase in crime in many areas, these statistics are just plain wrong.

You're right Scotty I got it wrong, heres the article...The correct figures are for every 100,000 people 726 are in jail...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4481261.stm

Paul; There is no such thing as a "good area." In fact, drug abuse is a rather unhappy but common side-effect of increased affluence in many places in the world, particularly in places where the family unit is most at risk. This girl's father was a drug trafficker and a loser, and it sounds like her mother did just well enough to keep her off the scope of the social service agencies until she became a danger to herself. Nothing shocking there. And it wouldn't be a shocking story to me if the girl was from Brighton, either. The problem with free society is that each and every one of us is free to fail, and that failure can entail pulling those that depend on you right into the abyss with you. Not a problem if you never cared in the first place. It's a fundamental flaw in the self-regulation mechanism of modern society: a mechanism which imposes strict requirements for training, licensing, and insurance to drive a motor carriage around the block, yet which allows the most ignorant, untrained, and irresponsible among us to procreate like wild-eyed lab rabbits. In an affluent society, some of those rabbits live in nice houses.RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Santiago de Chile

This info is roughly a year old. I am sure either your numbers are wrong or mine are. I would guess BOTH are wrong. I do know, by shear deduction, that it didn't jump up 250 per 100K in one year! LOL! Below is the article and url. I do have a solution to the bad music influence! If the Rap and H-H turns people into troubled beings, let's start piping Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and Strauss into these troubled neighborhoods. Following the logic you presented, this should have a good, opposite effect on these folks instead of the bad effects of the other music, and all will be right! LOL! It's worth a try! :)DonOn June 30,2004,-- 2,131,180 prisoners were held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails -- an increase of 2.3% from midyear 2003, less than the average annual growth of 3.5% since yearend 1995.-- there were an estimated 486 prison inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents -- up from 411 at yearend 1995. -- the number of women under the jurisdiction of State or Federal prison authorities increased 2.9% from midyear 2003, reaching 103,310 and the number of men rose 2.0%, totaling 1,390,906. At midyear 2004 there were 4,919 black male prison and jail inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,717 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 717 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm

>-- 2,131,180 prisoners were held in Federal or State prisons>or in local jails -- an increase of 2.3% from midyear 2003,>less than the average annual growth of 3.5% since yearend>1995.>>-- there were an estimated 486 prison inmates per 100,000 U.S.>residents -- up from 411 at yearend 1995. These figures dont make sense. 2.1 million prisoners in a population of approx 272 million = roughly one person in every 130. This equates to arround 700 per hundred thousand, which is (roughly) the figure Dillon quoted from the BBC news survey. ...i need a scotch:-) RegardsDan

Make it a double, and I'll join you! :)Don

Don I like your solution and actually it's been tried before. Most Hip-Hop music contains samples of older music so maybe we can throw a little Bach in there with some positive lyrics and see what happens... The only problem is a record company won't pick it up (no matter how good it is) unless the rapper in question has a criminal record somewhere...Don I almost forgot, you should check out this article..."Is Corporate America to Blame for Hip-Hop Violence?"http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/News/story?id=694982&page=1I like the jokes Don but this thing is more serious than you think... :-)

Nothing to do with Asia vs. US.I doubt this would have happened in Wyoming or Montana.It didn't happen in Mississipi which was hit worse on the same day as was Louisiana.These are an originally tribal people reverting to their tribal way of life, the way of life their ancestors left behind when they left Africa (willing or as slaves) for the new World.That tribe is now replaced by the youth gang, and for older people the drugs ring.Those groups have had an almost free hand in New Orleans for decades due to the highly corrupt political system and police force in the city.The same is true in some other cities but in most areas they're actively hunted.Now that that police is gone (either suicided, deserted, or on vacation in Las Vegas) they're boss not just in fact but in name as well and now the army has to come in and shoot it out with them.This could happen anywhere where a strong criminal culture (maybe glorified by gangsta-rap and hiphop music) is in place in areas where law enforcement is weak.It didn't happen in Asia because the general attitude of the population there is different and doesn't really condone such a criminal system.In Asia the group is more important than the individual, and the larger group (which means the country) is more important than the smaller group (the gang).Those systems do exist but they're respectable to a degree. I don't see a criminal gang in New Orleans actively helping the police in evacuating people, yet that's what the terrorists in Atjeh did when they laid down their weapons and helped in the recovery effort there.That's totally different from the typical Afro-American grugs gang which exists only for itself (just like the African tribe exists only for itself and won't help a neighbouring tribe at any time even if it is for its own good).

"These are an originally tribal people reverting to their tribal way of life, the way of life their ancestors left behind when they left Africa (willing or as slaves) for the new World.That tribe is now replaced by the youth gang, and for older people the drugs ring.Those groups have had an almost free hand in New Orleans for decades due to the highly corrupt political system and police force in the city.The same is true in some other cities but in most areas they're actively hunted."WHAT? That is one of the most prejudicial statements I have ever read! Not ALL the people involved were black! What tribe were the white people from? Oh brother!Don