News: Dunbar Village

The gang rape and torture of a mother and her 12 year-old son in Dunbar village have gained national attention, but obviously people who live here in South Florida are the most interested. It's doubtful anything will be done in the long-term (there's just nothing valuable in Dunbar Village to police). The brutal incident provides a compelling, if tragic, case study on crime and punishment.

The area is basically a slum. Only 19% of the people there graduated from high school, and most of the population are single mothers making less than $11,000 a year. Many of these are Haitian immigrants. With this kind of crushing poverty, it doesn't take a sociologist to figure out that rampant crime would become a problem.

The biggest dilemma, though, is that many of the rapists simply got away. If no one enforces the law, people tend to break it (for instance, speeding). I think what we're seeing here is the flag of "Screw the Other Guy" raising its ugly head...