Crime is described as an act or failure to act that violates a law established by the government and is punishable by a fine or imprisonment, representing a public wrong against society.

Of course, what was a crime yesterday, may not be considered a crime today. A perfect example is the possession and use of marijuana in New York State. 

A prosecution under federal law for marijuana possession could be serious, resulting in incarceration, fines, civil penalties, and denial of federal benefits. Federal drug laws classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug (the highest classification). Simple possession starts as a misdemeanor but quickly jumps to a felony offense depending on n number of arrests, or quantity.

The same goes for gambling, prostitution and any number of supposed crimes and outdated laws.

Statistics suggesting increase, or decrease of crime is also a moving target. One needs to look not only at the crime itself, but motives, environment and situation. In older times a man/woman killing, or injuring a partner was considered a crime, until factors of defense, or survival in domestic violence came to the surface.

Crime has various levels of severity and results in murder of various degrees, manslaughter, or any number of reasons, motives, etc. Likewise, the punishment resulting from being found guilty of a crime may result in different punishment. 

So, where is all this leading? Statistics is the key word. Crime is increasing/decreasing with a load of statistical date, often based upon the interpreter’s knowledge, leanings, or political motives. At best it is flawed.

Ah, yes there was yet another shooting, murder in Rochester, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. What people fail to realize is that a tiny number of people skew the statistics and cause the majority of crimes.

Cities may be ripe with crime, not always due to raging motives, but influenced by population density, economics, opportunity, history and an assortment of human conditions.

So, how do you deal with crime? The first step is usually the call for more and better policing, but  that is not always the answer. The study of crime does and should addresses the why, as opposed to just locking the criminal up and throwing away the key.

Prison sentences often only exacerbate crime and without institutional  input of social education to change behavior leads to recidivism - the criminal repeating crime and punishment. 

According to those who study the death penalty, there is no real drop in murder due to the threat of giving up the murderer’s life. More than likely, either revenge, or political motives are behind the call for the death penalty.

Education, increasing social interaction, mental treatment, drug programs, providing opportunities, both economic and diverse activities tend to thwart crime. Police interacting with citizens is yet another avenue.

The problem is that all these answers  take time, money and a will to identify those primed for crime. It may take years, or generations to show a positive posture.

Declaring a political assault on crime by criticizing local, state leadership sounds like a fix, but is totally ineffective to really address crime statistics. Sending in the National Guard, using federal troops to address real, or imagined crime is little more than a knee jerk reaction. The police closest to the citizens they protect should be paramount. Help is a phone call away, when needed, or requested. 

Building a supposed ‘national police’ ready to insert themselves in to deal with local crime is a great soap box talking point, but moot in the overall solution. Sending in the National Guard is at best temporary and very costly.

In a story by Robert Farley on MSN he wrote: Trump continues to claim that he wants to deploy troops to crack down on crime. He has called Chicago and Baltimore each a “hellhole,” New Orleans “quite bad,” and Washington home to “bloodshed, bedlam and squalor.” The thing to remember, however, is that those are just words he is saying. Violent crime in all of these cities has been decreasing, and there’s good cause to believe that the administration’s actions could interrupt these cities’ progress and worsen violent crime.

Civilian reaction to federal, actual insertion locally will set back any of the social solutions to addressing crime. 

Bottom line, people are human and there will always be crime, but making it a political ploy is just plain stupid.