Mystic River Urban Crime

There are many atrocities that are committed around the world that are publicized by media and broadcasting. Despite being widely distributed, the media can skew and distort any story. In the movie Mystic River, it is evident that not all barbarities can be unbiasedly distributed and presented such as urban crime. There are other contributing factors that can increase the tendency for urban crime. One of which is urban density and pedestrian urban development, which causes for high traffic and congestion throughout any metropolitan area. Lastly, a tight knit community will also help influence the decisions made by individuals that live in the community.

Urban crime is an extensive issue throughout the United States. The way media and broadcasting

depict certain issues can be skewed and distorted through the eyes of witnesses, and reporter bias alike. Most of the general populous believe that what they are seeing is the entire truth. Unfortunately most evil deeds go unnoticed, such as Dave Boyle murdering the rapist. But once a community is aware of one major crime, a majority of the attention is geared towards that main issue for a while or until it is deciphered; in this case, it is the murder of Jimmy Markum’s daughter. Some of the time, media does not pick up on the contributing factors that influence the motives for the crime committed. For example, Dave Boyle’s abduction was not highly broadcasted. Knowing, this gives some background on Boyle’s motives to kill the debaucher in the car with the adolescent on the night of Katie Markum’s murder. It is concerning to see this pattern throughout mainstream media even in today’s wide dispersal of news and controversy.
There are many influential factors that can drive an individual to execute a specific action or deed. Respectively, over population can cause congestion, and increase traffic though any metropolitan area. The rapid increase in population is correlated with slower response times from any emergency respondents, and increased crime and violence. Increased traffic limits the mobility for an emergency vehicle. Likewise, if a city didn’t have such a dense population, then that same process would be much faster. Increased crime rates are witnessed throughout Mystic River starting with Boyle’s abduction, the murder of Katie Markum, the murder of the rapist, Boyle’s murder, along with other crimes committed by Jimmy Markum and his gang. The fact that most of these crimes went unpunished shows a problem within the justice system that can be connected to urban density. The more people there are within city limits, the more possible suspects there are.
As far as urban development goes, typically in any major city some regions are allotted for low income housing as well as upscale developments for the wealthy.

As seen in Mystic River the neighborhood that Jimmy, Boyle, and Sean grow up in is not upscale by any means. Generally crime rates spike in low income housing neighborhoods yet, most misdemeanors aren’t reported nor televised. For example the murder of Just Ray Harris, along with the murder of Boyle. Neither of those murders were reported nor televised. Thus arising a problem; if no one knows or hears about a crime how is it supposed to be solved or brought to justice. On the other hand if the story is portrayed in a deceiving fashion, it can distort and sway opinion. A great example of this phenomena is portrayed in Mystic River, when Dave Boyle gets framed for Katie Markum’s murder based on witness accounts and investigation reports done by Sean and his partner Whitey Powers. The distorted messages and witness accounts ended up in Boyle’s death. Therefore what is seen, heard, spoken, and absorbed can and will cause people to believe things that may or may not be one hundred percent

correct.
It is undeniable that a tight knit community has respect and loyalty to other members of that community. This is best exemplified when we see Jimmy Markum and gang kill Dave Boyle on the riverbank. No one told a soul about what had happened that night. They were all looking out for one another so no one would be incarcerated. Once a tight knit community is established, it turns into a family with copious amounts of brothers and sisters. After years of constant communication between all the members of the community, there is a sense of comfort amongst everyone involved. Thus creating an almost unbreakable bond. Tight knit communities are not that uncommon in the U.S. and around the world. For example a tribe Africa might not all be blood related, nevertheless they treat each other no differently. It is a strategy of survival, to trust and rely on those closest to you. This is a very primitive tactic used early on in the evolution of human beings and animals alike. But it continues to carry over into new generations.
In conclusion, media has a huge impact on what we believe.

The only problem is that media and broadcasting can distort images and skip out on detail on any situation making it hard to decipher the real truth from phony, embellished stories to capture attention. Most of the time the media might depict the perpetrator of the crime as a bad person. This is not fair seeing as no one really knows the motives behind the crime, or if there were any contributing factors. Urban crime can be correlated with many contributing factors that will help influence the decision making process of any individual. Some of the factors include; overpopulation and urban development, and a tight knit community. Each contributing factor has its own ways of affecting an individual and can contribute different varieties of components. It is up to the individual of how to handle what he or she is given and surrounded

with.