Morris Heights Violence Essay

A challenge affecting the residents of Morris Heights is violence. According to DNA info (2011), Morris Heights ranks 53rd in ranking for overall violence in New York. Due to drug use and gang activity, shooting incidents rose 24% from 2009 to 2010. Violence in Morris Heights is a human rights issue because it stunts the opportunities of the residents in the community – there are less opportunities to thrive peacefully, the quality of life for inhabitants are lowered due to violent crimes that may end a person’s life, violent incidents may cause a lifelong challenge such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other sicknesses due to rape or serious injury. The quality of the environment is lessened because businesses will be less than likely to provide goods and services to the inhabitants of certain communities, the level of property values decrease because more residents will be driven out and residents will be less educated as to how to change the negative aspects of their neighborhood. Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2015) state that the community prospers due to the business that thrives within it. It is difficult to flourish successfully when trying to merely survive day to day. …show more content…
This is evident by the commentary provided by Sandra Cuevas whose son was shot and killed in the neighborhood (Sinner, Ademo & Jeantet, 2011). Incidents like the aforementioned make it difficult to concentrate on other aspects of life such as pursuing an education and obtaining adequate employment which exacerbates the problems of poverty, truancy, gang activity, and drug use. The abovementioned falls in line with what Ambrosino, Ambrosino, Hefferman & Shuttlesworth (2016) state as a definition of a microsystem - situations experienced by an individual on a face to face