In the last few years, crime has risen in downtown Los Angeles, as it has across the country. Robbery now makes up 47% of all crime in LA, according to FBI data. Last year, there were 586 reported robberies in the area, and the year before that, 527.
One of the places hit hardest by this trend is LA’s famous “Skid Row.” Since the 1990s, Skid Row has been home to thousands of hobos, or homeless people. As the shelter system has grown overcrowded, some have turned to crime to stay alive. In 2016, there were 2,100 reported incidents of property crime on Skid Row, which is double the number from the year before.
Now, many are worried about what effect all of this urban crime has on the mentally ill and homeless population. In January, the Los Angeles Times ran a harrowing piece about a local man who robbed a liquor store and a bank, and later tried to kill himself because he felt “empty inside.” The story focused on how the city’s “poverty rate has soared, with 47% of adults living below the poverty line, and the number of visible and latent mental disorders has increased.” It cited a recent study that found more than half of the homeless in LA are likely to have drug abuse or addiction issues. The study’s author, Dr. Martin Quezada, warned that “these individuals are more likely to be at risk of violent behavior, especially if they are untreated.”
The Robbery Epidemic
While urban crime has risen in general, the number of robberies carried out on people has increased by 24% in the last year, according to the FBI. Last year, there were about 216 million thefts from consumers, an increase of about 1.5 million cases from the year before.
The one place we’ve constantly seen this increase are gas stations. In 2016 alone, there were 740 reported gas station robberies in the U.S., according to a BankTrack analysis, and about 83% of those robberies were committed by men.
There’s also been an uptick in car jacking and auto theft. Last year, there were 258,000 burglaries of vehicles committed across the country, a number that has been steadily increasing since 2007. About 80% of those vehicles were entered and exited via a locked garage or an unlocked entryway. And in 2016, there were about 3.26 million cases of auto theft across the country, a sharp increase from 2015, when there were 2.85 million. About two-thirds of those cases were committed by men.
What’s behind all of this crime? The Times ran a piece with a few possible answers last year, citing the opioid epidemic and drug addiction, as well as mental illness and unemployment. The journalist who wrote the piece, Liz Goodwin, cautioned that “it’s impossible to know for sure what’s causing the recent uptick in violent crime.” But, she added, “it’s not hard to see how these problems could combine to create a perfect storm.”
The ‘Penis Robbery’ Epidemic
To be fair, not all of New York City’s recent crime wave is created equal. While there’s been a 43% increase in burglaries and grand theft since the year before, the number of robberies has decreased by 10%. That’s probably because most of New York City’s street crime takes place in the Bronx, where there has been more than a 40% drop in reported robberies since the year before. Most of the crime in the Bronx is actually committed by other, more dangerous street gangs, according to the New York Police Department. These groups often prey on each other and the general public, so it’s not exactly a flattering reflection of the city’s overall crime rate.
But, still, it’s hard to ignore that the majority of New York City’s street crime is, in fact, a ‘penis robbery’ epidemic. Between July and December 2016, there were a total of 567 reported ‘penis robberies’ in the city, according to the NYPD. That’s more than double the number of ‘penis robberies’ in the same period the previous year. Most ‘penis robberies’ took place in the Bronx, with 168 incidents during that time period, according to the NYPD. (The NYPD could not confirm whether these reported ‘penis robberies’ were committed by the same or similar groups of men.)
This ‘penis robbery’ epidemic is just one example of how the “poverty, crime and despair” that defined the urban crisis in the 1960s and ‘70s has returned.
The Increase In Mental Illness And Drug Abuse
One of the major contributors to Los Angeles’s urban crisis is its high concentration of mentally ill and chronically ill people. It’s been well-documented that poverty and homelessness increase one’s risk of developing mental health issues. And it seems that the additional stress and strains of living in an increasingly dangerous city has led to an increase in mental illness and substance abuse. (Again, we can’t speak to what’s causing the increase, as much as we can observe it.)
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, about 1% of the U.S. population, or about 4.5 million people, suffer from mental illness. Of those, about two-thirds experience mental illness first-hand, and one-third have a family member or friend who also has mental illness. In a few instances, mental illness and substance abuse are so severe that they lead to violent behavior.
Among the mentally ill, there has been an increase in individuals with schizophrenia. The number of cases of schizophrenia jumped up by 14% from 44,600 to 52,400 new cases in 2016. This makes it the fastest growing among the top ten diseases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC attributes the increase in schizophrenia cases to an “obesity epidemic,” as more and more people are struggling with health issues related to poor nutrition and lack of exercise. The agency also noted a possible link between increased pesticide use and the rise in schizophrenia. Pesticides are known to disrupt the hormone system in animals, leading to neurological problems.
One of the major risk factors for developing schizophrenia is a previous history of the disease in the family. If you have a first-degree relative, like a parent or sibling, who has schizophrenia, your risk of developing the disease increases by 58% compared to someone without a family history of the disease. (If you’re reading this, and you don’t know whether or not you have a family history of schizophrenia, please consult your physician.)
More People Are Living Downtown
One of the major drivers of urban crime and insecurity in Los Angeles is its swelling population. With more than a million residents turning to the city each week, finding a parking spot easily fills up an entire garage, and many residents have to search for an hour or more to find a parking spot in a garage. This is one reason why urban squatters have set up camp in what was once a very posh and secure neighborhood. The neighborhood’s well-known restaurants and boutiques are now being used as shooting galleries for highly organized groups of armed robbers. The rise in urban squatting is one of the major factors behind the rise in urban crime in general.
Though it is tempting to blame all of Los Angeles’s problems on urban squatters, it’s not fair to do so. The growing pains of a city are inevitable, and they aren’t just due to overcrowding and lack of parking spots. When large groups of people are living in close quarters like this, tensions rise. This often leads to violence and crime. In fact, the opposite is true. When the population of a city is squeezed into smaller and smaller spaces, tensions between residents rise, and they often turn to crime as a way to voice their complaints and feel safer. This was most recently seen in the gentrifying neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
More Migrants Are Crossing The Border
One of the major issues contributing to the “perfect storm” of violence and crime in urban America is, in fact, immigration. While the overall number of immigrants in the U.S. remains steady, the type and rate of illegal immigration is on the rise. One of the main reasons behind this is the growing unease and dissatisfaction with the country and its legal system among those residing in Latin America. For years, the U.S. has been a land of opportunity for immigrants, with about 85% of new arrivals legally settling into a new life. Now, with the unemployment rate hovering around record-breaking levels, and more and more Americans struggling to make ends meet, those looking for a better life have more reasons than ever to attempt to enter the country illegally.