String of Parking Lot Fights Increases Awareness of Community Violence

June 12, 2012

Parking lots are often turned into stages of brutal violence, despite their typical proximity to public locations (via MyParkingSign.com).

June 12, 2012 — Yesterday, two women were taken into custody after fighting in a Springfield, IL, parking lot. The day before, Morgan Myers, a pregnant 30-year-old woman, was stabbed to death following an altercation in a Walmart parking lot in Rapid City, South Dakota. Every day, nasty altercations spring up in parking lots throughout the country, many of which end in serious injury or death.

It’s not hard to understand why parking lot fights are so common in the United States, especially considering their glorification in popular culture and cinema. Countless television shows and movies have featured fighting in parking lots, with films such as the eighties high school classic Three O’Clock High and the 2001 film Joe Somebody featuring  plots centered on parking lot brawls. The sensationalized fighting typically results in minor injuries and glory for the (typically unlikely) victor, although recent high school fights have made headlines for less exultant reasons.

With a rise in parking lot violence, certain initiatives have been created to educate students about the repercussions of youth violence. (via MyParkingSign.com)

High school parking lot fights are still prevalent throughout the United States, with some bouts ending very seriously. Less than a week ago, two students were stabbed at Columbia High School in DeKalb County, Alabama after a fight in the school’s senior lot. While the severity of the sustained injuries from the stabbings was not released, witnesses reported that the inflicted students had been stabbed in the back, hand, and neck. Despite its romanticized presence in popular culture, the stereotypical after-school fight in the parking lot often ends tragically, with life-altering or life-ending repercussions.

A recent study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s school violence sector reports that 9.6 percent of male students had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property one or more time in the twelve months before the survey was taken, with the total for boys and girls averaging 7.7 percent. Parking lots are often the stages for these altercations, with most violent fighting taking place outside the walls of the school.

High school violence inflicts a growing number of students each year, with high school parking lots often hosting the most violent altercations (via MyParkingSign.com)

Programs such as the New York State Education Department’s school violence prevention and intervention program are one step towards the reduction of school violence. However, high school lots aren’t the only parking lots that host brutal fighting. With such a large prevalence of parking lot fighting, it is the responsibility of local authorities to increasingly monitor the streets and lots accordingly.

– S. Walsh

Category: News

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