is not as bad as the media would have u believe.....
Above, Shantell Martinez, 18, (far left among the young women pictured), is listed as the Latina victim of a homicide committed by black suspects. But in reality, Martinez was of mixed heritage, spending time with black friends who affectionately called her, "White Girl." The conflict preceding the shooting was essentially black-on-black, and the indiscriminate gunfire that killed Martinez also wounded four black people.
This row: Rafael Rivera, 33, (far left), was a Latino man killed by a black man. But investigators think his killer probably mistook Rivera for black. Rivera was very dark-skinned, and his nickname "El Moreno" means "the black man" in the colloquial Spanish of L.A. streets.
Kenneth Johnson,48, a black man, (second from left), was killed in a double homicide in which a Latino man faces trial. The suspect in the case, however, was a known to be violent toward both blacks and Latinos, and investigators believe the killing had more to do with the suspect's violent mood, and perhaps some minor quarrel, than with anything related to race.
Salvador Arredondo, Latino, (third from left), and Fabian Cooper, black, (second from right), were lifelong, good friends who died together in a homicide committed by blacks. It was another "bullets-have-no-name" killing: The pair were random victims, caught in the middle of some gang quarrel of which they had no part.
Eugene Robinson, 34, (far right), was a black man living in a Latino world. He was the member of a Latino gang, and the suspects in his killing are Latino. His nickname, "Shadow," presumeably referred to how his complexion contrasted with that of the people around him. The eulogies written on his street shrine were almost entirely in Spanish.
"LAPD is not on the brink," of a major inter-racial crime wave, three University of California Irvine scholars have concluded after examining assault, robbery and homicide data in the city's southern police precincts.
The researchers said that, although some cross-racial crimes involving blacks and Latinos have been "sensationalized," the numbers suggest that offenders preying on people of their own race is a much bigger problem, and should remain the focus of police attention.
"It sort of goes against the more spectacular stories that have been dramatized in the media," one of the researchers, UC Irvine assistant professor John R. Hipp, said of the study's findings. "It's far more common to see [violence] going on between groups. We don't see any real trend here."
The study by Hipp and fellow UC Irvine criminologists George E. Tita and Lindsay N. Boggess compared aggravated assault, robbery and homicide cases between 2000 and 2006 in the four precincts of LAPD's South Bureau against 2000 Census data. It found that black offenders were nearly eight times more likely to kill another black person as to kill a Latino, and Latino offenders were nearly twice as likely to kill another Latino as a black person.
A similar situation existed with robberies and assaults, the study found: Black offenders were six times more likely to assault those of their own race than Latinos. Given the opportunity, they were about equally likely to rob from each group. Latino offenders were almost twice as likely to assault fellow Latinos--and almost three times more likely to rob them--than to assault or rob blacks.
The researchers said that, although some cross-racial crimes involving blacks and Latinos have been "sensationalized," the numbers suggest that offenders preying on people of their own race is a much bigger problem, and should remain the focus of police attention.
"It sort of goes against the more spectacular stories that have been dramatized in the media," one of the researchers, UC Irvine assistant professor John R. Hipp, said of the study's findings. "It's far more common to see [violence] going on between groups. We don't see any real trend here."
The study by Hipp and fellow UC Irvine criminologists George E. Tita and Lindsay N. Boggess compared aggravated assault, robbery and homicide cases between 2000 and 2006 in the four precincts of LAPD's South Bureau against 2000 Census data. It found that black offenders were nearly eight times more likely to kill another black person as to kill a Latino, and Latino offenders were nearly twice as likely to kill another Latino as a black person.
A similar situation existed with robberies and assaults, the study found: Black offenders were six times more likely to assault those of their own race than Latinos. Given the opportunity, they were about equally likely to rob from each group. Latino offenders were almost twice as likely to assault fellow Latinos--and almost three times more likely to rob them--than to assault or rob blacks.
This row: Rafael Rivera, 33, (far left), was a Latino man killed by a black man. But investigators think his killer probably mistook Rivera for black. Rivera was very dark-skinned, and his nickname "El Moreno" means "the black man" in the colloquial Spanish of L.A. streets.
Kenneth Johnson,48, a black man, (second from left), was killed in a double homicide in which a Latino man faces trial. The suspect in the case, however, was a known to be violent toward both blacks and Latinos, and investigators believe the killing had more to do with the suspect's violent mood, and perhaps some minor quarrel, than with anything related to race.
Salvador Arredondo, Latino, (third from left), and Fabian Cooper, black, (second from right), were lifelong, good friends who died together in a homicide committed by blacks. It was another "bullets-have-no-name" killing: The pair were random victims, caught in the middle of some gang quarrel of which they had no part.
Eugene Robinson, 34, (far right), was a black man living in a Latino world. He was the member of a Latino gang, and the suspects in his killing are Latino. His nickname, "Shadow," presumeably referred to how his complexion contrasted with that of the people around him. The eulogies written on his street shrine were almost entirely in Spanish.