We need massively stepped up criminal enforcement and convictions in DC

[Anonymous]

If this man could be shot downtown on K St. NW at rush hour, it could happen to any of us. Or our teen drivers. Shooter did not even take his car. He was picking up his wife from work. Still in critical condition.

Meanwhile, the Chair of the Council plans to appoint an unqualified murderer to the Sentencing Commission.

Another daylight shooting of a driver, on Q in Dupont, during rush hour last night. That victim may be paralyzed.

There is no urgency to change things, interpret that as you will. In fact, the Council is slow rolling the vote on Pinto's crime bill so that DC Justice Lab and others have ample time to campaign against it.

At Allen's carjacking event last night, it was parents of kids who had been arrested for carjacking who were begging for accountability. Graves and Schwab? Same old, same old. Could have been 2021, excuses never change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this man could be shot downtown on K St. NW at rush hour, it could happen to any of us. Or our teen drivers. Shooter did not even take his car. He was picking up his wife from work. Still in critical condition.

Meanwhile, the Chair of the Council plans to appoint an unqualified murderer to the Sentencing Commission.

Another daylight shooting of a driver, on Q in Dupont, during rush hour last night. That victim may be paralyzed.

There is no urgency to change things, interpret that as you will. In fact, the Council is slow rolling the vote on Pinto's crime bill so that DC Justice Lab and others have ample time to campaign against it.

At Allen's carjacking event last night, it was parents of kids who had been arrested for carjacking who were begging for accountability. Graves and Schwab? Same old, same old. Could have been 2021, excuses never change.

Progressives don't really listen to parents so hope they don't think this will get them to give up their focus on "root causes and undeveloped brains."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shooters in Dupont today and yesterday on K st were not kids. They were grown men. Most likely with a record. This violence is not about poor hungry kids. It’s about mentally ill people and sociopaths emboldened by the lawlessness in this city.

Again, many people don't realize that the St. Elizabeth's mental asylum location was closed and they dumped a bunch of mentally I'll people on the street. Today that location is in full swing development for a basketball plaza. When you fail the broken in society this is what happens.

St. Elizabeth's was closed in 2006. This most recent crime spike started 2-3 years ago at most.

No, it did not. Part of the campus was developed but the hospital still operates. I know of someone there now. Hinckley was only released in 2016. Why are so many confused about this?

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2022-06-01/judge-grants-john-hinckley-unconditional-release-four-decades-after-shooting-reagan

https://dbh.dc.gov/page/saint-elizabeths-hospital

Even if we have enough 'beds' for all the people who really need to be treated, it's kind of moot. DC needs laws changed (Council are you there????) like CA has done to make involuntary holds easier to appropriately apply. I call 311 all the time for people in distress or ranting or threatening. If the mobile team gets to them in time (they are super slow and guess what? A homeless person can hop on a bus and make tracks in no time), the mobile team will just offer them support that the homeless person will refuse. Please keep calling stuff in--I think it's good to have a record of citizen reports-but the laws themselves need to change and our elected officials are the ones who need to do that.

If they can figure out how to ride a bus, then they aren't mentally ill. You are afraid of people who are just exercising their freedom of speech.

Super hard to stagger on and off a bus from your bus shelter "home". Sure.

[Anonymous]

We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Over the past year there has been an increasing amount of public attention to the "criminal justice ecosystem" - even Congressional hearings. Yet, the outcomes and prosecution rates have not changed overall re: USAO or AG.

https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/we-know-what-we-need-to-do-but-it

Maybe it's time to do some investigation into who is benefiting from the status quo?

[Anonymous]

This is the article the above substack references.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/calls-to-overhaul-districts-violence-reduction-strategy/3526111/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

And this is what it is really all about. Public safety can and will be held hostage until people agree to a left-wing wish list of redistributive programs. Everyone needs to understand: this is not an accident, it is being done on purpose. DC government, as currently constituted, will never prioritize public safety or crime victims, they are ideologically committed to “more programs” and flat-out won’t do anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

And this is what it is really all about. Public safety can and will be held hostage until people agree to a left-wing wish list of redistributive programs. Everyone needs to understand: this is not an accident, it is being done on purpose. DC government, as currently constituted, will never prioritize public safety or crime victims, they are ideologically committed to “more programs” and flat-out won’t do anything else.

Recall them.

[Anonymous]

I think Bowser, who has never called for defending police (she has many flaws, but this was not one), should activate the Guard. If she plays it well rhetorically it may embarrass the Council into action. Ie, you don't want policing or to legislate consequences for youth crime? Then I'll activate the Guard until your approach reveals it's effectiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

Are you suggesting that children should be removed from family and put in residential schools as Canada did with native children? DC has very generous benefits: housing, EBT, free metro cards, free school, free medical care. If the homes have no food that is the fault of parents and guardians, not "society."

Where are children to learn accountability if there are no consequences for behavior? Are you a parent, PP? Do you raise your children without consequences or boundaries? At what age, in your opinion, should children/adults begin to have responsibility for actions? Are you suggesting that age should vary by race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

And this is what it is really all about. Public safety can and will be held hostage until people agree to a left-wing wish list of redistributive programs. Everyone needs to understand: this is not an accident, it is being done on purpose. DC government, as currently constituted, will never prioritize public safety or crime victims, they are ideologically committed to “more programs” and flat-out won’t do anything else.

This. And I'm not sure that public safety would be restored even then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

Uh... what? Vietnam vets are in their 70s and 80s now, if they are still alive. I do not think that's the primary source of criminality in the District in 2024. I mean, we should absolutely provide services to veterans, and mental health and related problems (including unemployment and homelessness) are still a major risk for vets. But most vets come from enlisted services these days and the VA actually offers pretty good services -- the problem is often making sure that vets have proper knowledge of available services and ensuring they have legal or other representation to help them navigate the agency.

Most of the troubling mental illness we see in DC right now, which is leading to a lot of the crime we are seeing, is the result of people who are veterans of... growing up in DC. Sad to say it, but I'd rather spend a tour in Iraq than spend my youth and adolescence in certain DC neighborhoods. This is a homegrown issue.

[Anonymous]

Is one of the answers voting Republican for local elections? As someone who is a lifelong Dem (and obviously voting for Biden) I'm not above exclusively voting Republican locally if it means fixing DC. I'm over talk about mental health, racism, and remediation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should focus on housing, providing mental health services and other holistic wrap around services for teens and the mentally ill.... many of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I heard someone on the radio mention they are a social worker and found teens who are committing the acts do not have food in their homes and are often unsupervised due to lack of proper parental care.

This country should be ashamed of itself for not doing enough for its taxed citizens.

Failure to care for everyone in society leads to these kind of outcomes.

Uh... what? Vietnam vets are in their 70s and 80s now, if they are still alive. I do not think that's the primary source of criminality in the District in 2024. I mean, we should absolutely provide services to veterans, and mental health and related problems (including unemployment and homelessness) are still a major risk for vets. But most vets come from enlisted services these days and the VA actually offers pretty good services -- the problem is often making sure that vets have proper knowledge of available services and ensuring they have legal or other representation to help them navigate the agency.

Most of the troubling mental illness we see in DC right now, which is leading to a lot of the crime we are seeing, is the result of people who are veterans of... growing up in DC. Sad to say it, but I'd rather spend a tour in Iraq than spend my youth and adolescence in certain DC neighborhoods. This is a homegrown issue.

Actually, many street drugs induce mental illness, including new versions of pot that can induce psychosis, also new meth, etc.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/

[Anonymous]

Is one of the answers voting Republican for local elections? As someone who is a lifelong Dem (and obviously voting for Biden) I'm not above exclusively voting Republican locally if it means fixing DC. I'm over talk about mental health, racism, and remediation.

In same boat and I switched to voting R in DC general elections two cycles ago. What DC really needs is an open Dem primary so independents and Rs can actually have a voice, instead of of the lunatic fringe dominating the debate (just as it dominates the primaries in exclusively red states)