Reply to How to get rid of Charles Allen?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you have a neighbor/ANC commissioner/etc. who may have a more balanced approach to crime, please encourage them to consider running or at least making some serious noise. I'm tired of Charles Allen's "it's literally never their fault when they point a gun in your face" approach.[/quote]

Have you called his office to voice this? I have. They very courteously tell you how much you are misunderstanding the worthiness of his approach. I mean, I guess they have to defend it since its his platform, but I've had some pretty Seussical conversations with his staff.[/quote]

Good for you for calling him. But this is why I don't even try - I just don't think it would change a thing unless he (and politicians in general) is at risk of losing his seat or comes under serious political/PR pressure. I just don't know how to get that going, especially around such a sensitive topic. Any time you bring up violent crime as a problem, you get flamed as a racist within three seconds, when all I want (and the vast majority of AA residents want) is to not worry about getting carjacked or shot at by 14-year-olds who will be released to their guardian in a day.[/quote]

With all due respect, that’s not *all* that most people want.  We want to see a productive future for our kids, grandkids, etc. which does take some understanding of why they are committing crime.  Of course no one wants to get carjacked or shot.[/quote]

But once people get carjacked or shot, Allen's sympathies seem to lie more with the person doing the the carjacking or shooting than the victim. How is that at all sane?[/quote]

Maybe it’s just a difference in perspective.  Of course carjacking is wrong.  What do we do about it?  Lock up a 14 year old kid for 30 years?  Or give that kid better choices to make?  Frankly, I trust that people will make overall good decisions when they have good options to choose from.  Some of these kids don’t have good options in front of them.[/quote]

[b]^ The kid already had better choices available to make. [/b]What you do is remove them from society for a time (no 14 year old kid is getting locked up for 30 years for carjacking, as you know) and while you have them in custody, you provide education and skills, including educating them in the better choices they [b]should[/b][i] make when given a choice between abiding by or breaking the law. Then, upon release, you heavily supervise them and support them. Part of this support can include conditions, such as being in school or employment and staying out of trouble. We know that kids thrive with expectations and support. All of this is called "reform", and I've never really heard Charles speak to it.[/quote]

I don't think you have any idea what these kids choices look like.

How hard do you work to provide your kids good opportunities?  How many natural obstacles do they have in their way?  Imagine what it's like to have significantly higher obstacles and the people looking out for you have much less ability to open up opportunities.

The rest of what you said doesn't seem far from Allen and his allies position at all.  I don't get why you're so up in arms.[/quote]

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