So what's the point of the curfew then if crime (just as predicted) has not slowed down much? we all know alcohol consumption is not THE problem.
People everywhere react more to the
fear of crime than to actual crime in and of itself.
For example, studies have shown that in the U.S. suburbanites in general have the same concerns about crime as inner city residents in many U.S. cities. However, the incidents of crime in suburbs vs. cities is substantially different.
Even greater is the perception of crime, when suburbanites who often lack personal experience of an inner city situation would over-blow the perceptive crime level of inner cities. In fact, this is occuring among the Dominican-American population, with many Dominicans fearing the "crime in the DR" to the point that they over react as to not travel to the DR.
In fact, many Dominican-Americans actually think that Dominicans are locking themselves indoors at all hours, thinking twice before they walk to their colmado, not attending public events, etc. because of the "excessive crime" that the minds of expatriates Dominicans over blow in proportion due to a lack of personal observation and experience of the actual situation in the DR.
In fact, it has become quite common to hear of Dominicans travelling to the DR and coming back wondering what all the fuss is about. In fact, many would argue that the situation in the DR is no worst than it is in their U.S. residence (particularly if they live in the inner city or if they live in suburbs and have the same high crime perceptions of inner city areas of the U.S.).
They are surprised when they go to clubs in the DR and they see that the places are packed with Dominicans dancing and laughing, or that Dominicans are not running everywhere, etc. They notice that Dominicans are taking similar precautions that DomYorks take in the Bronx or Queens or Manhattan or anywhere in order to avoid being robbed, but it's nothing out of this world!
The perception of crime is more influential in causing people to change their behavior than is the actual act of crime itself.
And the perception of crime is created by the media. Take this into consideration, in the U.S. crime has decreased substantially from what it was in the 1980s, at least that's what the data has shown. However, if we were to judge what the crime rate is in the US by what we see in the nightly news, the perception of crime in the U.S. would be as high as it was in the 1980s, despite the obvious decrease in such crime!
The same thing happens in the DR and everywhere on earth.
-NALs