Does the Hideous Murder of Delfino Mora Highlight Degrading Values in Society? [Video]

Sixty-two-year-old Delfino Mora was murdered by three teenagers who beat him to death in a disgusting and callous crime and showing their utter lack of remorse, posted a video of it on Facebook.

Mora lost the full use of his right arm over a decade ago in an accident at work. To help his family, Mora would go around the neighborhood collecting cans for some extra cash. The three teens saw him in an alley and targeted the grandfather of 23, as reported by nbcchicago.

After Malik Jones, 16, handed his mobile phone to his friends to film the attack, he punched the disabled man in the jaw after demanding money. The film, which allegedly shows Mora hitting the pavement with an audible cracking sound, was then posted online. Where is the respect for life or for a fellow human being, particularly one who was obviously down on his luck?

The Chicago Tribune details the prosecutor's account of the teens playing "Pick 'Em Out and Knock 'Em Out." Delfino Mora was found unconscious, and died the next day of "blunt head trauma."

The Degrading Values in Society

A much criticized article by Gary Bauer has addressed the issue of gang violence in Chicago. He says:

"Chicago has averaged 450 homicides a year since 2005. Last year Chicago had about the same number of murders as New York City, which is three times as large as Chicago. There have been nearly 300 murders in Chicago so far this year, up 38 percent from last year."

Bauer believes that the reason for such horrifying trends in youth crime has to do with the degrading of values in society. He says that the "single biggest problem afflicting the poor black community is absent fathers." Without the fathers, oftentimes the mothers are struggling to work to raise their families while the children go unsupervised and can get caught up in gangs.

Does Bauer have a point or are there other reasons gang violence is prevalent? While Bauer makes valid points, his theory does not explain why Chicago has such a pervasive problem with gangs compared to other cities. The question is, why is this happening more in Chicago?

Watch a local news report discussing the case here.