Sunday, August 31, 2008

MD Dept. Juvenile Justice = Huge Mess

Jaw-dropper of the week: "Dwayne Price had been arrested 11 times and had run away from state custody at least once. Yet at the age of 18, the state's juvenile justice system gave him one final chance at rehabilitation." Less than a month later, he'd raped an 88-year-old woman, "the second time Price had raped an elderly woman while supposedly under state supervision." ... and it just goes downhill from there.

Sun blogger Peter Hermann writes about murder victim Tyisha M. Brown. Employs sentence fragments. For drama. Like Rodricks. Likes to.

Bealefeld attributes the record-low homicide rate to "a focus on locking up repeat violent offenders," Dixon's office also credits a city health department mediation program.

Har! Raven/genius Derrick Martin was suspended a game and fined after taking his pot to the airport.

MD news:
In QAC, an 18-year-old is charged with hitting an 11-year-old and a 15-year-old with her car (on purpose)

Hyattsville's Wendy Garcia, age 25, got three years in jail for lying to protect members of the Gang that Saves Trout. Also facing the business end of the long Rod of the law: a bank robber, a gun possessor and a guy who defrauded the Small Business Administration.

Looks Gangsta but Isn't Dept:
Converse pulls "gangsta" shoes

Dr. Dre's son was found dead, cause undetermined

4 comments:

I am so wise said...

Well given violence is not a disease but an action people actively chose to do, I am guessing Bealefeld's explanation is probably the correct one.

Seriously, viewing violence as a disease in anything but metaphor is counterproductive.

helix said...

Actually, MJB has misunderstood the article he cited. He makes it sound like Bealefeld attributes one reason and Dixon attributes another orthogonal reason.

From the article: ...Dixon says both the law enforcement and social services angles are crucial.

The mayor deserves some credit here. 1 for getting rid of whats-his-name, 2 for appointing Bealefeld, 3 for introducing the mediation strategy. I'll admit I had thought the city would go off a cliff after she became mayor, but she has done as good a job as one can realistically expect. Kudos to Dixon.

taotechuck said...

Helix, I'm with you on this one. I dreaded Dixon so much that I voted for Ehrlich just to keep O'Malley around. Believe me, that's some serious fear that made me want to keep O'Malley. I'm glad to say I was more wrong than right.

John Galt said...

Dixon's strategy has been to lower mega-violent crime through appeasement.

The stats are down. For murder & shooting. Mostly drug-related between persons who know one another.

It's now a safer place in which to deal/buy drugs.

That's not a good thing.

Think about it.