Chapter 2: Homicidal Math, Ep. 3
By all accounts, 2020 was a deadly year.
For instance, according to the Memphis Data Hub, there were 334 incidents classified as slayings or killings.
The difference, between a slaying or killing, arguably relies on intent but, as traditional reporting tends to affirm time and time again, 334 times a person ended up dead at the hand or the result of the act(s) of another. That’s all that matters. It is--to quote a recent Commercial Appeal article, “a wide wave”-- of violence. It's a crisis.
Yet, the math doesn’t equate.
You’re listening to the mark up by mediaverse. I’m Richard, your co-host along with Melonee and our producer Brandi. This is Episode 3 of Chapter 2: Homicidal Math.
The total 334 slayings or killings -- or the legal term, homicides--did eclipse the 300 mark for the first time ever -- or not.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting database is selective in how it deals with death. Its tally of homicides does not include negligent deaths, accidents, suicide or justifiable homicide, which is just another way of saying that the victim deserved to die. (More on that later.)
MPD follows the same protocol, breaking out negligent acts (accidental deaths or vehicle-related deaths); when that is considered, there were 275 homicides. (According to the AP Stylebook, we shouldn’t say murder unless someone has been convicted of that crime. And all were not gun related.)
That’s a far different headline than what we’ve seen -- even 185 in 2019, 157 in 2018, 184 in 2017, 200 in 2016. What meaning can we take from that? And when we, as a society, agree that some deaths are justifiable, aren’t we arguing that violence is OK. And if the total is never zero, because humans, can we talk about what is an acceptable level of death?
For the first segment of the mark up by mediaverse Ep. 3 of Chapter 2: Homicidal math, we are joined by D.J. Shingles, a former officer with the Southaven Police Department and co-founder of The Bridge Initiative Inc., which seeks to build a bridge between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
D.J. Shingles, co-founder of The Bridge Initiative
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In early January, the Shelby County Health Department declared gun violence to be a public health crisis -- while at the same time, COVID-19 had caused nearly 3 times as many deaths, most of them arguably preventable just like some homicides. But in terms of being a public health crisis, COVID-19 has done what no amount of homicides has done -- it shut down the city, disrupted an entire school year, filled hospital ICU units, forced doctors to make life-saving considerations on levels we have never seen and generated more funerals.
That’s a crisis but what have we learned? Joining us is James Aycock, a public educator known on Twitter as @firstresponses and one who has followed the COVID-19 trend from the beginning.
James Aycock, educator/data analyst, @firstresponses
We hope you join us for these great conversations.
