The Center for Homicide Research published a report on homicides in Flint. It concluded that Flint passed its previous record of 61 homicides (set in 1986) "in large part to a process of contagion." In other words, once a homicide occurs, it can spark others, spreading like a disease. In a phone interview, the author of the report, Dallas Drake, told me the process is a bit like an ember jumping out of a fire. A person present at the scene of a homicide may become violent themselves, or they may prod others to become violent. Drake says these people can spread violence if the conditions are right. And the conditions in Flint couldn't be better. Extreme poverty mixed with easy access to guns. The authors of the report say most of the homicides in Flint were committed with firearms, and the intervals between the killings seemed to ramp up as the year went on. In the Flint Journal , Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said he agreed with a lot of the report: "The report is accurate in identifying
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