Recognition where it is due to Masslive for acknowledging the huge drop in murders Springfield experienced in 2014. While it is clearly a statistical anomaly stemming from the problem of small numbers it is only fair that the inevitable large percentage drops in such horrible categories be as celebrated as their (also inevitable) spikes. At the same time the unfortunate New Year’s murder of a young man has been jumped on as somehow emblematic of the city’s dysfunction, all the while the fact that last year it wasn’t until spring that the city had its first homicide was never mentioned.
While a list of victims and locations is given in the article about Springfield homicides one interesting point goes unmentioned, unreferenced, and unnoticed: all appear to have been behavior and relationship related. Not one was place related. Reading articles all year on each and every murder I cannot recall a single one in which, like say the Amy Lord case in South Boston, the victim was unknown to the assailant and vice versa. Is it dangerous to be in Springfield, or is it dangerous to be in the drug trade? Is it dangerous to be in Springfield, or is it dangerous to bring prostitutes into your home? Is it dangerous to be in Springfield, or is it dangerous to be in a gang?
Pointedly the reporter noted the high percentage of murders in the region which have taken place in Springfield. True. Where is the article on road fatalities? Where are people being killed by cars? Some in the city, yes, as is to be expected given that Springfield has many times the population and many times the traffic of even the other cities in the metro area, but how disproportionately suburban, and how many times greater the number of dead and seriously injured in car crashes than in gun violence!
Crickets.
