It's often easily forgotten that the problems facing metropolitan mayors today have been with cities for longer than those mayors have been alive. Doing some research while preparing for last week's transfer of power to new Memphis Mayor A C Wharton provided some perspective on Memphis's problems, none moreso than violent crime.
We found an article in our archives that ran on Dec. 29, 1991, two days before Willie Herenton would take over the city from Dick Hackett, that talked about the various problems facing Memphis. Crime was high on that list, as former CA reporter and later metro editor Charles Bernsen would write:
"Based on occurences per 100,000 residents, Memphis ranked second in rapes, fifth in burglaries and arson, sixth in homicides and seventh in auto thefts among the nation's 20 largest cities. Overall, serious crime was up 4.5 percent in 1990 after dropping for three straight years. The city set a homicide record last year with 207."
Two years later, in 1993, the city would break that homicide record, with 213. To put that into perspective, there were 148 homicides in 2008 in a city that has expanded to include Cordova and Hickory Hill. To add even more historical perspective, Mr. Google delivered an article from The New York Times with the following headlines: HOMICIDE RECORD FOR 1911 APPALLING and MEMPHIS'S FIGURES WORST. That article points out that Memphis had the country's worst homicide rate in the decade ending 1910, with a rate of 47.1 murders per 100,000 people.
By 1926, Memphis was only the fourth-worst city in the nation for murder rate, behind Jacksonville, Tampa and Birmingham. Memphis's 75 homicides that year (in a city of 177,000) was cited in an article in The Atlanta Constitution with an argument that sounds familiar nearly a century later:
"This is a reproach on the weakness of our criminal laws, the loopholes through which murderers can escape or indefinitely delay punishment, and upon the administration of criminal laws."
By 1928, Memphis was No. 1 again, with 60.5 murders per 100,000 people (a rate that high would be the equivalent of nearly 400 murders in a year today).
That 1991 CA article quoted an expert on the nature of crime in Memphis -- a certain public defender named A C Wharton. From the article:
''We've lost a whole generation to crime,'' Wharton said. ''Our only option now is to contain them and start working on the next generation.''
Wharton said he sees an arrogance and a lack of remorse among today's criminals that signals a ''degeneration of mores and societal conventions. These people are beyond the reach of society. We have nothing to offer them anymore and so we have no control over them.''
Crime here involves predominantly black-on-black offenses in the inner city, most of it drug-related, said Wharton. Its effects go beyond immediate victims.
''The dry cleaners, the corner grocery store. How many times will they be robbed before they leave and board the place up?'' he said. ''Crime is driving the businesses and families out, chasing away the means for stability and self-sufficiency. Folks aren't going to invest in an area where they can't get insurance, where they don't feel safe. It's destroying the sense of community.''
Wharton sees a bright spot - greater cooperation among agencies involved in dispensing justice. He conducts weekly meetings with representatives from the police and sheriff's departments, prosecutors, judges and parole officials. They made some changes - getting officers to issue more misdemeanor citations instead of making arrests - that helped reduce jail crowding.
''I think there's a growing realization that, especially for drug offenders, we need to do more than just lock 'em up and throw away the key,'' Wharton said. ''We need to find ways to prevent children from becoming criminals and reduce recidivism.''
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