Thread: Poverty, crime go hand in hand

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Poverty, crime go hand in hand




Like many urban areas that have their share of crime and poor people, Brockton has its share of domestic violence homicides. Poverty and crime go together and it isn't shocking that there were five domestic violence homicides in the city in 2003.

But the numbers become disturbing when they are put in perspective regarding the entire state, as Brockton had more than a quarter of all domestic killings in Massachusetts that year. The Boston-based Jane Doe Inc. violence prevention group highlighted that year because most of those cases have been processed through the courts.

That is to Brockton's disadvantage. It also shows how statistics can be manipulated. Of those five deaths, three came in one case, when a security guard killed his wife, daughter and himself. Last year, there wasn't a single domestic violence killing in Brockton, and just 14 in the entire state.

But that is 14 too many, just as the 19 in 2003 were 19 too many. In 2004, there were 27, including three in Brockton. There is not an epidemic of domestic violence deaths, but something is driving these numbers.

Perhaps a more optimistic way to look at it is that it is easier to separate categories of killings because more people are willing to come forward to report and discuss domestic violence. The numbers may not have actually increased over the decades; we just have a better idea of who is killing whom.

One troubling aspect of the violence remains the immigrant factor. All five Brockton killings in 2003 involved immigrants and May Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., said, clamping down on illegal immigration would “hurt our case” because illegal immigrants are reluctant to go to the police for fear of deportations.

“Victims of domestic violence are victims no matter where they are from,” Lauby said.

True enough. But domestic violence won't be minimized until there is better intervention on the part of police and social service agencies and there are better economic conditions for everyone.

"All five Brockton killings in 2003 involved immigrants and May Lauby, executive director of Jane Doe Inc., said, clamping down on illegal immigration would “hurt our case” because illegal immigrants are reluctant to go to the police for fear of deportations."

no suprise there