European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                No tort it m m photo children in Detroit who wet netted the killing of their teacher gather around new instructor. Incident occurred a few Oart Mgo crime problem am Fence  Detroit City savaged by crime by Isabel Wilkerson new York times n Detroit where officials say Thero Are More guns than people crime influences almost every decision. It determines when people leave Home what routes 1hey drive where they walk. Crime is a conversational icebreaker like the weather or the Detroit tigers. Shootings Are so commonplace that they Are he subject of local songs and school essay contests on Tho average a child was shot every Day in 1986, but if residents were becoming anaesthetized to such violence a killing at a High school in the Middle of holy week in april has once again awakened them. The City cancelled classes two Days id hold assemblies on youth violence. And some residents especially inner City Blacks who Are most Likely to to victims of crime Are urging hard Ling strategies Ike resurrecting old fashioned Reform schools and the death Penally and a return to school prayer. Just before Spring break on april 1g, a 14-year-old student firing a .357 magnum pistol chased a Star football player through the Halls of Murray Wright High school past the gymnasium and physics Laboratory As others looked on helpless and in horror. The football player Chester Jackson jr., was killed by a Bullet to the head. Two other students were wounded. Why this seemingly motive less shooting has infuriated Detroi ters who live with a nation leading homicide rate of s3 Lor every 100,000 residents triple that of new York is not entirely Clear. But among Strw reactions to the killing of the 17 year old athlete parents Are demanding Metal detectors and searches Lor weapons in the schools. The Call for searches has re ignited a debate that raged a few years ago when officials conducted such searches Tor a Lime but stopped them after the american civil  Union protested. The Acle maintains that searching students would be improper unless the searches were announced in Advance. But some parents say announced searches would be useless and that Surprise random searches would be an acceptable Price to pay Lor safety in the corridors for those who ask what lies at the Root of the killings the answers Are either elusive or disturbing. Experts on criminal Justice say that crime in Detroit appears to be feeding on itself and thai adolescents who Are in the Page 16 the stars and stripes most violence prone years Are More Likely to commit crimes. Seeing other people break the Law is  said Robert Herr Steirs a professor of psychology a i Harvard University co author of the Book crime and human nature. Teen agers whose moral development tags behind their physical and psychological maturity Are vulnerable. They Are the people closest to the Edge Pai tic ulary when they have shallow of Mofna attachments to people and society Herrnstein said. Such anger is contagious he said adding people who would have broken the Law trivially Are breaking the Law seriously As the whole population is being pushed toward lawlessness " Detroit stands apart in the frequency of shootings involving youths overwhelmingly poor inner City Black males in apparently unprovoked attacks. Larger cities such As new Voa and los Angeles generally report More juvenile murders but the authorities say the killings Are usually a result of gang activity or drug trading in Detroit the authorities say drugs explain Only some slayings. Thre. Crime has become a Savage intruder on everyday lives. On the roughest streets crime prospers against background sounds of sirens and gunfire. Emergency room physicians say they cannot take All the gunshot victims on the busiest nights and some High school teachers say they Are afraid to go of work sometimes it seems All i do is children s funerals said a ii Crist Denise Robinson. I stand Over the coffin decorating the room and i think to myself please Don t let it be me or my child " violent crime has mocked efforts to contain it. There is a new mandatory jail sentence for gun violations in Detroit and the City has imposed curfews for teen agers. Red ribbons Are tied around tree trunks and lampposts in symbolic pleas for an end to the bloodshed homicides Rose nearly 20 percent Overall in the first Quarter of this year to 168, As against 142 in the first three months of 1986, for Allol 1986, there were 646 victims there were 43 children under the age of 17 filled last year. Clementine Barfield s son Derick was one of them. The 16-year-old was shot while sitting in a car at a Gas station. A 19-year-old was found guilty of using a firearm in a felony and sentenced to three years in prison. For Bari end teen age murders became an sunday May 31, 1987 obsession. Last january she and several other mothers started a support group save our sons and daughters for mothers whose children have been shot. The group has a 24-hour hot line for words of encouragement. Group members attend the almost weekly trials of people accused of killing teen agers and they hold meetings often interrupted by uncontrollable tears. Kay Streeter s 15-year-old son Andre woe killed last september and Here Are no suspects. She and her 17 year old son live in terror he s afraid hell come Home one Day and i la be in a closet dead she said. At Detroit receiving Hosp to the City s main emergency Center it is not unusual for 16-year-Olds to come in with fresh gunshots to the neck and old wounds Irr the stomach. We re seeing More a suits and More homicides Over trivial arguments said or. Cynthia Shelby Lane an emergency room physician at Detroit receiving Hospital i Call in the knife and gun  physicians Ara often threatened or quacked when they break the bad news. When Shelby Lane told one distraught woman thai her husband had died the woman screamed you go Back in there you re not  thu patient who Turalva often return to the emergency roam after another violent encounter seem Noly certain Hal if. They got through one shooting they can get through another. They think you re super Doc and they re Superman Shelby Lane said. All they want 10 know is when they can get out of the Hospital. They can t wait to get Back to the streets. And Here we go  from Palm sunday to Good Friday alone live youths were fatally shot including the football player Chester Jackson or. A 14-year-old, being held a1 the Wayne count y youth Home was charged with his murder. Gov. James Blanchard has since pledged to provide 1,000 new prison Beds for juvenile offenders and is seeking to set up summer work Camps Lor delinquents. City officials said they would resume weapons searches in the schools. I m tired of kids carrying guns like they used to Lake a lunch mayor Coteman Young said. Students say they Are More frightened than Ever. Everybody s talking about How they really have to bring a Qun to protect themselves now said Robert a a fool All player