KC Star: 64130 = "Murder Factory" zip code in KC.

[chrizow]

http://www.kansascity.com/murderfactory/

has anyone read this garbage? 

i think it is an irresponsible, ridiculous piece of sensationalist "journalism." 

is it really surprising that a very large, largely impovershed area (measured, inexplicably, by zipcode, not the most useful geographical unit for sociological purposes) has produced 101 people who committed murder over a 20+ year period?  this story does nothing but reinforces the perception that KCMO is "dangerous" to the star's suburban readership.  there are 101 murderers from this 8-square mile zipcode, but there are thousands of law-abiding citizens.  naturally the media focuses on the minute, bloody side of the area ("if it bleeds, it leads") than anything positive.  on the star website you can click on a map of each murder and get the circumstances of the crime.  in all but a handful, the perpetrator knew the victim and it was the product of something very avoidable like a drug deal, robbery of drug dealers, etc.  i was actually surprised (but glad) to see that just a few were "random" attacks.

there's no question that this part of town faces some steep challenges, but i just dont see the value of the main media mouthpiece in town piling on like this.  stuff like this makes me applaud the impending doom of the newspaper in this country.  this isn't news.

[KCMax]

I don't get why it matters where convicted murderers live. Shouldn't it matter more where murders take place?

And "murder factory"?!?!? Way to take a very serious topic and slap a catchy nickname on it.

[phna]

http://www.kansascity.com/murderfactory/

has anyone read this garbage? 

i think it is an irresponsible, ridiculous piece of sensationalist "journalism." 

is it really surprising that a very large, largely impovershed area (measured, inexplicably, by zipcode, not the most useful geographical unit for sociological purposes) has produced 101 people who committed murder over a 20+ year period?  this story does nothing but reinforces the perception that KCMO is "dangerous" to the star's suburban readership.  there are 101 murderers from this 8-square mile zipcode, but there are thousands of law-abiding citizens.  naturally the media focuses on the minute, bloody side of the area ("if it bleeds, it leads") than anything positive.  on the star website you can click on a map of each murder and get the circumstances of the crime.  in all but a handful, the perpetrator knew the victim and it was the product of something very avoidable like a drug deal, robbery of drug dealers, etc.  i was actually surprised (but glad) to see that just a few were "random" attacks.

there's no question that this part of town faces some steep challenges, but i just dont see the value of the main media mouthpiece in town piling on like this.  stuff like this makes me applaud the impending doom of the newspaper in this country.  this isn't news.

It's more objective then the generalized statements on crime you have proffered before, for example from the Pendleton Heights Rocks thread:

well, i would suggest that some people just will not be convinced of anything.  huge swaths of NE are really high-crime. 

Furthermore, if you look at the PDF file associated with this article, zip code 64124 is in the top 10. Pendleton Heights resides in that zip code. Combine this information with information sent to PH residents weekly on crime activity ( and crime reports .com) a pattern is recognizable. The crime persistently occurs along the Independence Ave. Border and in the West Edge where high density low income housing is prevalent.

Notwithstanding the mea culpa interviews with those in jail, and the in your face title, there is good hard data to ponder in this article. To stigmatize the piece with words like "irresponsible" and "ridiculous", is sensationalism. Therefore, this argument broaches hypocrisy.

[KCMax]

I do agree that it is important to stress that KC's murders happen in a pretty confined area. That would be good to illustrate that the rest of KCMO is relatively safe.

I still don't get why they chose to list where murderers live rather than where murders take place.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I suppose in a sick and twisted way, it is halfway encouraging that the local media is being at least a bit more sepcific and geographically accurate with the focus of their sensationalist crime coverage - This is better than in the past where they might have tried to suggest the murderers were all coming from "central KC" or "Downtown".

[chrizow]

I still don't get why they chose to list where murderers live rather than where murders take place.

b/c this zip code is a "murder factory," max!  it is a factory that produces cold-blooded killers who leave the confines of their zip code and prey on others!

in some ways, the articles are interesting.  it is certainly an interesting topic - what social, economic, political, psychological, etc. factors go into producing someone who commits murder? 

It's more objective then the generalized statements on crime you have proffered before, for example from the Pendleton Heights Rocks thread:

To stigmatize the piece with words like irresponsible and ridiculous, is sensationalism. Therefore, this argument broaches hypocrisy.

many parts of the northeast are high-crime.  that isn't an outlandish statement.  the zip code discussed in this article is a "high crime" area as well, by any measure.  that said, i would be the first to say that 64124 and 64130 are mostly inhabited by good, law-abiding citizens.  sorry if it seemed like i was painting Northeast with too broad of a brush. 

the piece is absolutely irresponsible and ridiculous.  it has an empty, incendiary headline and takeaway message.  the actual stories contained in the series of articles are informative, but they are packaged in a way that is intended to instill fear into the readership and paint a very large community as a "murder factory."  it is like the writer composed a series of relatively thoughtful pieces of the stories underlying crimes in this area, then some editor decided to spin the stories and gather them under a stupid, KCTV-5 style headline like "murder factory."  if the story were about 64124 (or my own zip code, 64110), i would say the same thing. 

I suppose in a sick and twisted way, it is halfway encouraging that the local media is being at least a bit more sepcific and geographically accurate with the focus of their sensationalist crime coverage

haha.  yes, i am glad that the Star has seen the error of its ways and is now casting an area of 26,000 residents as a "murder factory" rather than the larger urban core of 200,000 residents. 

[phna]

I do agree that it is important to stress that KC's murders happen in a pretty confined area. That would be good to illustrate that the rest of KCMO is relatively safe.

I still don't get why they chose to list where murderers live rather than where murders take place.

*


There is a definite focus to the article on the people that live and work in the area and are affected by the crime. In the accompanying video (I took this in all online, so I don't know about the printed version), A Woman was interviewed about living there and dealing with the abandoned and vacant houses that are  prevalent, which above the aesthetic problems* they promote, such structures harbor crime, like drug dealing and usage. An area businessman, and a cop on the beat were also interviewed. And another video showed the boot style camp for young teens working to better their neighborhoods. These are obvious foils to the inmate interviews.

[GRID]

I also found it very irresponsible for the Star to fill the Star Mag section up with neighborhood drawings drawn by 4th graders "from the city" where many, if not most, showed some sort of a violence theme.  Even though the article clearly stated that the vast majority of the submitted drawings didn't have this violence theme, the Star still made those a priority.

You can be a 4th grader and live in the big bad city and not live in a jacked up family in a ghetto home and neighborhood.

I just found entire thing as something to sell papers in the burbs, both the "murder factory" and the city kids drawings.

BTW, my wife teaches in 64130

[LenexatoKCMO]

haha.  yes, i am glad that the Star has seen the error of its ways and is now casting an area of 26,000 residents as a "murder factory" rather than the larger urban core of 200,000 residents.   :lol:

For better or worse I think the metro perceptions are evolving on this subject.  We have all probably encountered folks who see kc crime coverage and fix it in their head that violent crime and danger are pervasive throughout the entire urban core.  This attitude has held a lot of sway for a long time.  I think the general public is becoming increasingly more aware that the serious problems are concentrated in various pockets around the east side rather than uniformly throughout.  This is probably a benefit for the RCP corridor to have that reputation shift in focus, but it can't be good for long term hopes that some of these neighborhoods will improve and see reinvestment.  If anything, I would think having a microscope better focused on the true problem areas will be more likely to cause the law abiding folks there to be more inclined to flee and further break apart the community.  

[GRID]

For better or worse I think the metro perceptions are evolving on this subject.  We have all probably encountered folks who see kc crime coverage and fix it in their head that violent crime and danger are pervasive throughout the entire urban core.  This attitude has held a lot of sway for a long time.  I think the general public is becoming increasingly more aware that the serious problems are concentrated in various pockets around the east side rather than uniformly throughout.  This is probably a benefit for the RCP corridor to have that reputation shift in focus, but it can't be good for long term hopes that some of these neighborhoods will improve and see reinvestment.  If anything, I would think having a microscope better focused on the true problem areas will be more likely to cause the law abiding folks there to be more inclined to flee and further break apart the community.  

Then why could I have a full time job correcting people, nearly all from johnson county, on the internet and in person when people continue to say most areas of KCMO, even the plaza, downtown, crown center, Uptown theater area etc are very high crime and dangerous areas.

That's an honest question.

Most people don't call it ghetto, but they simply say they would never live there or even walk around most areas of KCMO at night and be very carefull in the day time, even the areas I thought were pretty well known, like the plaza area.

Maybe it has gotten better, but it's still pretty bad.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Then why could I have a full time job correcting people, nearly all from johnson county, on the internet and in person when people continue to say most areas of KCMO, even the plaza, downtown, crown center, Uptown theater area etc are very high crime and dangerous areas.

That's an honest question.

Most people don't call it ghetto, but they simply say they would never live there or even walk around most areas of KCMO at night and be very carefull in the day time, even the areas I thought were pretty well known, like the plaza area.

Maybe it has gotten better, but it's still pretty bad.

I did say "evolving" not completely fixed.  Obviously there are some folks that are so set in their ways that they will paint with a broad brush and think negatively no matter what.  Maybe its just because most of the folks I know realize that I am passionate about urban KC but most of the friends and family I encounter seem to have a much more nuanced view of urban KC crime than they would have 5-10 years ago.  Maybe its just the people I deal with. 

[phna]

the piece is absolutely irresponsible and ridiculous.  it has an empty, incendiary headline and takeaway message.  the actual stories contained in the series of articles are informative, but they are packaged in a way that is intended to instill fear into the readership and paint a very large community as a "murder

Most people don't call it ghetto, but they simply say they would never live there or even walk around most areas of KCMO at night and be very carefull in the day time, even the areas I thought were pretty well known, like the plaza area.

Maybe it has gotten better, but it's still pretty bad.

Notwithstanding what fear the article may instill, people are affected by it!

[Highlander]

I still don't get why they chose to list where murderers live rather than where murders take place.

I would suspect that they would be more or less one in the same.

[trailerkid]

http://www.kansascity.com/murderfactory/

has anyone read this garbage? 

i think it is an irresponsible, ridiculous piece of sensationalist "journalism." 

is it really surprising that a very large, largely impovershed area (measured, inexplicably, by zipcode, not the most useful geographical unit for sociological purposes) has produced 101 people who committed murder over a 20+ year period?  this story does nothing but reinforces the perception that KCMO is "dangerous" to the star's suburban readership.  there are 101 murderers from this 8-square mile zipcode, but there are thousands of law-abiding citizens.  naturally the media focuses on the minute, bloody side of the area ("if it bleeds, it leads") than anything positive.  on the star website you can click on a map of each murder and get the circumstances of the crime.  in all but a handful, the perpetrator knew the victim and it was the product of something very avoidable like a drug deal, robbery of drug dealers, etc.  i was actually surprised (but glad) to see that just a few were "random" attacks.

there's no question that this part of town faces some steep challenges, but i just dont see the value of the main media mouthpiece in town piling on like this.  stuff like this makes me applaud the impending doom of the newspaper in this country.  this isn't news.

COSIGN.

[jimb]

While the "murder factory" angle is sensationalist, I think the guts of the article has some good points.  The Monday installment talks about how a number of social issues and policy decisions led to the decline of this area.  All the following were noted as contributors to the problem:  historic (and current) racism and segregation, 70s housing policies, decline of the school system, absentee landlords, vacant houses, white (and middle-class black) flight, etc.

The Sunday article noted that the vast majority of people in 64130 live lawfully and are fighting like hell to raise their kids and improve their neighborhoods.  The "bad guys" make the news.

Maybe it would have been better if the series had been about the decline of the area, a look at some of the causes, the current problems, and what folks are doing to try and make it better place to live.  I think that the area has begot such a large number of incarcerated murderers is valid observation.  You cannot pretend that the area does not have serious problems.

Will it further color some people's view of that area and the even city in general?  Probably.  Will it lead others to think about crime and poverty and what needs to be done?  I certainly hope so.

[cknab1]

I thought it was interesting that in the same paper they did the article on 64130, they had this big story about where Scott Pioli grew up and the family values that were represented there.  What a complete 180.  I don’t think this was intentional, but if you read both articles it gave quite a contrast in environments. 

[Slappy the Wang]

BTW, my wife teaches in 64130

Does she wear a kevlar vest and pack a .40?

[phna]

Grassroots initiatives aim to break cycle of violence in ?Murder Factory?

Read more: Grassroots initiatives aim to break cycle of violence in ?Murder Factory? - KansasCity.com


http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1750737.html

Admirable effort, how effective can it be?