A Violent Society

Excerpt from The Rational Christian
Rising Crime Worldwide (Matthew 24:10,12; Genesis 6:5, 11-13)
Copyright © 2006 Christopher Creek Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

If the upsurge of violence in our schools is not enough to convince skeptics of a radical change in the fabric of our society, consider the overall crime statistics. Many are surprised to learn that crime in the United States has risen well over 300 percent since 1960. Crime now accounts for more deaths, injuries, and property losses than all natural disasters combined. Although violent crimes had been experiencing a

downward trend since 1993, this has changed over the past few years. In 1999, the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence found that the number of violent crimes reported to the FBI in major cities has risen 40 percent since 1969. The Associated Press reported on June 22, 2000 that an increase in murder in big cities reversed an eight-year decline in violent crime. Leading criminal justice experts agree that we will no longer continue to see drops in the rate of violent crime as we did during the 1990s, because of a troubled economy and rising tensions in the world.

The United States is definitely not alone in the growth of violent crime. On July 19, 2001, BBC News reported a 4.3 percent rise in violent crime in the U.K., nearly twice that of the United States. On February 11, 2002, BBC News reported that organized crime is still controlling large parts of Russia’s economy and not enough is being done to combat it. Up to 7,000 murders have not been brought to justice because of inadequate law enforcement efforts. On July 23, 2002, the Associated Press reported that serious crimes involving guns have been sweeping Europe, with several countries experiencing mass killings. According to French journalist Ragis Verley, “Nobody knows
what has caused all these random attacks in Europe, and if there is any connection among them.” On January 8, 2003, BBC News reported that the Vatican, the world’s smallest country, has one of the highest crime rates in the world. There is an abundance of pickpocket incidents at St. Peters Basilica and the Vatican museums, as well as more serious crimes such as embezzlement and fraud. The crime rate in the United States has continued to rise over the past couple of years. On December 16, 2002, Reuters reported that according to the FBI, the crime rate in the United States went up once again during the first six months of the year, adding further to the recent increases that have been seen after nearly a decade-long decline. In addition to murders and rapes, property crimes including burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft also increased for the first time in many years. Domestic violence is also more widespread now than it has ever been in history, and drug arrests in the United States have nearly tripled – from about half a million in 1980 to over 1.5 million in 2001.

Much like the peculiar and deadly diseases that have arisen from out of nowhere over the past couple of decades, there are also many new and unusual crimes that have surfaced in recent years. According to the FBI, identity theft is the fastest-growing white-collar crime in America. It is estimated that there are about 700,000 victims of this crime each year. According to a CNN report on March 20, 2000, the growth of identity theft has been accelerating due to the availability of data on the Internet and the speed at which it can be acquired. Perpetrators collect personal information from their victims including Social Security numbers and driver’s license information and use these to obtain credit, merchandise, and services in the victim’s name. They may even
use the victim’s identity to commit crimes. The results are a severely damaged credit history and potentially serious legal problems for victims. Even celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Tiger Woods have been victims of identify theft. The U.S. General Accounting Office has reported that arrests for identify theft increased from 8,806 in 1995 to 9,455 in 1997, while financial losses grew from $442 million to $745 million over the same period. According to the national credit reporting bureau Trans Union, the number of inquiries for identify theft victim assistance rose from 35,235 in 1992 to over a million in 2001. Many refer to identify theft as an epidemic that has grown into a $40 billion nightmare.

The Internet has also introduced a wide range of devious and bizarre new crimes. Although the concept of stalking is relatively new to the past couple of decades, cyberstalking is the latest incarnation of this perverse offense. Cyberstalking is described as the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications to stalk another person. It usually involves harassment or serious threats. Many do not grasp the severity of this crime, but it is becoming a menace of considerable magnitude. In August of 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that 20 percent of the cases in the Manhattan district attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit involved cyberstalking. The same was found in Los Angeles. Former Vice President Al Gore admonished those who understate the problem: “Make no mistake: this kind of harassment can be as frightening and as real as being followed and watched in your neighborhood or in your home.” Right along with cyberstalking, child pornography has literally exploded over the past decade alone. On December 17, 2000, ABC News reported that the caseload for Innocent Images, the FBI’s task force devoted to the pursuit and prosecution of online child pornographers, has increased 1,200 percent since 1996, from 113 cases then, to 1,497 cases in 1999. According to 2003 FBI statistics, the number of child pornography cases is 2,370, an increase of 1,997 percent since 1996. This growth of this crime is accelerating.

	Hate crimes have also risen exponentially. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, there were 9,924 victims of hate crimes in 2000, and 9,430 reported incidents. There were only 5,932 incidents in 1994. On March 23, 2001, CBS News reported that there has been a dramatic increase in neo-Nazi violence in Germany over the past two years. According to government statistics, far right offenses in Germany reached
their highest level since World War II, surging nearly 60 percent from 1999. On July 8, 2001, ABC News reported that at least two were stabbed, 120 police injured, and 36 arrested in the English city of Branford when a fight broke out between members of a white supremacist group and South Asian youths. Police were attacked with baseball bats, bricks, hammers, and gasoline bombs. On September 17, 2001, CNN reported that hate crimes against Muslims and Southeast Asians had risen exponentially across the United States in the wake of the September 11 attacks. On May 19, 2002, the Washington Times reported that college campuses are witnessing a rise in hate crimes against Jewish students. The Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified nearly 500 hate groups in the United States, 127 of which belong to the Ku Klux Klan, 100 are neo-Nazi, 42 are Skinheads, 81 are Christian Identity (a racist religious group), 12 are black separatists, and the remainder subscribe to a variety of hate-based doctrines and ideologies. The level of hate in our world today has certainly risen to new levels. It is a grim reminder of what lies ahead when the Lord returns: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).

Jesus compared the nature of humankind during the days before His return to the times of Noah. Many will go on thriving on the misfortune of others, obliviously living in iniquity up until the moment the Lord returns. Then they will beg for the mountains and rocks to fall upon them so as not to face the wrath of the Lord (Revelation 6:16). The facts speak for themselves – we are living in a time where crime is rampant and the hearts of many have hardened. And while committing a crime may have served a particular purpose at one time, albeit a deviant one, we are witnessing a trend today of absolutely senseless violence. Random shootings, bombings, and other unprovoked bloodshed have arisen with a vengeance – the likes of which we have never seen before. The results will nonetheless be the same as they were in Noah’s day: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Genesis 6:11-13).

	The Journal of Law and Economics reported in 1999 that the net burden of crime in the United States exceeds $1 trillion per year, and the per capita cost is $4,118 (Source: “The Aggregate Burden of Crime,” Journal of Law and Economics, David A. Anderson, October 1999). The U.S. Department of Justice reports that there is one violent crime every 22 seconds, a robbery every 80 seconds, aggravated assault every 35 seconds, and one forcible rape every 6
minutes. Almost anyone can tell you that things are not the same these days in our streets or our schools. It is common knowledge. The world has become a crime-ridden and dangerous place to live, and the bulk of the most profound changes in this realm have occurred over the past decade alone. A sign of the end times? It seems very apparent. And we have still more signs to consider.