Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Uhhh... you don't know much about birth control, do you? It is free for poor people.

And you can’t force anyone to practice birth control. I also find this line of thinking very insulting-that the solution to the problem is simply to make “less of them”. Awfully close to what the racist Margaret Sanger was in favor of.
The solution is reinforcing morality and responsibility in families. But that’s anathema these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Uhhh... you don't know much about birth control, do you? It is free for poor people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would seriously like to know if these girls have fathers present in their homes.

The correlation between fatherless homes and committing crime is quite something, but also something this country refuses to talk about.

Not excusing these girls at all.... I think they should be locked up, but if we want to make any changes in juvenile crime, we need to look at the stats.

And do what? I'm sorry but just saying we need to look at the stats is a racist trope (and you know it). What are you going to do with that info? Forbid divorce? Plenty of kids grow up without a father in a house and don't carjack at age 12. So if these kids do have a father in their house, then what? And if they don't, then what? What are you really saying with this question? This sis an anonymous forum. Say what you mean to say.

I am making a very simple statement.... children from fatherless homes are more likely to commit crimes and end up in prison. It is a fact. Many of these children are from homes of unwed mothers.
No easy answers. But, the fact that you got so defensive is indicative that this country doesn't want to discuss root causes.
We could begin by making sure that children from homes without fathers have strong male mentors to help guide these kids. But, education is key. Educating the public about the results when fathers are not present....

https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would seriously like to know if these girls have fathers present in their homes.

The correlation between fatherless homes and committing crime is quite something, but also something this country refuses to talk about.

Not excusing these girls at all.... I think they should be locked up, but if we want to make any changes in juvenile crime, we need to look at the stats.

And do what? I'm sorry but just saying we need to look at the stats is a racist trope (and you know it). What are you going to do with that info? Forbid divorce? Plenty of kids grow up without a father in a house and don't carjack at age 12. So if these kids do have a father in their house, then what? And if they don't, then what? What are you really saying with this question? This sis an anonymous forum. Say what you mean to say.

Anonymous wrote:I would seriously like to know if these girls have fathers present in their homes.

The correlation between fatherless homes and committing crime is quite something, but also something this country refuses to talk about.

Not excusing these girls at all.... I think they should be locked up, but if we want to make any changes in juvenile crime, we need to look at the stats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I really can't calm down. This really hit me to my core.

I teach kids in DC. I see it. All this Social Emotional Learning that we are engaged in, Restorative Justice...I believe in it. We work tirelessly and I mean tirelessly to support our students in every way possible. You don't see it, but I do. Every day. It's an uphill battle of enormous proportions and still I see the utter lack of disrespect.

It goes against what I'd like to believe but I still think these girls need to be locked up.


Have you considered that all this restorative justice, emotional learning is actually feeding this problem? If a person(s) has already killed someone before they reach adulthood, which sadly happens almost daily in DC, then maybe these aren't the people we should focus on.
At some point we need to throw out the garbage. Crime went down when Three strikes was law and criminals were in jail.

This reminds me of an episode from the season of the Wire which focused on the Baltimore schools. One of the retired police captains want to volunteer in the schools and is working with a social scientist researcher who wants to work with high school kids. The captain grimly tells the researcher that the teen years are too late for effecting change, and takes him to interview a 15 yo who has just been arrested for a violent crime. Ten minutes of talking to the 15 yo ---who has zero remorse, empathy and is all about trying to effectuate revenge--convinces the social scientist that the former captain is correct, and they focus their intervention program on a local middle school instead. Even then, their ability to positively change the trajectory of the most troubled studies is extremely limited.

I don't think that a 13 yo should be locked up for life, but I definitely don't think DC's Youth Rehabilitation Act, as currently practiced, is good policy for either the juveniles or their victims. Honestly, sending these kids away to a military like environment of high structure/high nurture for 10-12 years---completely away from their home environments---is what is needed to repattern their behavior. Catch & Release with a few poorly attended social programs is useless.

Nobody, esp. Charles Allen, has ever explained what happens while the kids are 'away'. We know they get released with clean records at 18, but we don't know what is going to happen in the next 3 years to "rehabiliitate" the 15 year old in this crime before she is released again. Actually, once the trial is over, more like to years. What is the rehabilitation DC provides?

Anonymous wrote:Seeing how the Go Fund Me for this gentleman is about to surpass $1 million, mostly is small donations, the Mayor may want to revisit her public statements on this horrific and sadly now common crime.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The man who was killed by these girls was an immigrant from Pakistan who leaves behind a wife and two adult children here and an adult son and four grandchildren in Pakistan.

The 15 year old will not be tried as an adult, meaning she'll be back on the streets very soon. The 13 year old cannot be tried as an adult under DC law.

https://twitter.com/RamirezReports/status/1374766819735703555

It’s barbaric to prosecute children as adults.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I really can't calm down. This really hit me to my core.

I teach kids in DC. I see it. All this Social Emotional Learning that we are engaged in, Restorative Justice...I believe in it. We work tirelessly and I mean tirelessly to support our students in every way possible. You don't see it, but I do. Every day. It's an uphill battle of enormous proportions and still I see the utter lack of disrespect.

It goes against what I'd like to believe but I still think these girls need to be locked up.


Have you considered that all this restorative justice, emotional learning is actually feeding this problem? If a person(s) has already killed someone before they reach adulthood, which sadly happens almost daily in DC, then maybe these aren't the people we should focus on.
At some point we need to throw out the garbage. Crime went down when Three strikes was law and criminals were in jail.

This reminds me of an episode from the season of the Wire which focused on the Baltimore schools. One of the retired police captains want to volunteer in the schools and is working with a social scientist researcher who wants to work with high school kids. The captain grimly tells the researcher that the teen years are too late for effecting change, and takes him to interview a 15 yo who has just been arrested for a violent crime. Ten minutes of talking to the 15 yo ---who has zero remorse, empathy and is all about trying to effectuate revenge--convinces the social scientist that the former captain is correct, and they focus their intervention program on a local middle school instead. Even then, their ability to positively change the trajectory of the most troubled studies is extremely limited.

I don't think that a 13 yo should be locked up for life, but I definitely don't think DC's Youth Rehabilitation Act, as currently practiced, is good policy for either the juveniles or their victims. Honestly, sending these kids away to a military like environment of high structure/high nurture for 10-12 years---completely away from their home environments---is what is needed to repattern their behavior. Catch & Release with a few poorly attended social programs is useless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've taken a lot out of our social fabric--prayer in school, Columbus Day, National Anthem. What have we put in that connects people, really? I have nothing against the taking something out if you put something in, but we haven't. Just a lot of lonely people on their phones out their and kids raising themselves apparently.

Weakest troll comment ever.

I would say more prayer is not to the answer and probably contributed to this tragedy. Organized religion and Christian prayer was used as a tool during slavery era to control and subdue slaves and to make them passively accept their plight. Christianity taught them to be obedient. Christianity also advocates for no birth control and keeping kids in the dark about sexuality. Essentially, sex is a sinful act unless it’s done in marriage. These kids are the legacy of Christian induced slavery, the legacy of poor family planning, poverty, and probably fatherless homes. All Christianity does is exacerbate problems. Instead of prayer and intangible efforts, how about funding programs to help alleviate the effects of the legacy of Christianity and slavery?

Be gone, Satan.

Anonymous wrote:Birth control must be free and actively offered to families in crisis levels of poverty. How different things would be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so tired of hearing about lack of opportunity for these kids. We live in a nation that offers free education for kids until they’re 18. DC has tuition assistance for college bound kids. Families can access food, health, and housing benefits. There are childcare credits, job training, social programs, and many charities that provide additional assistance. At some point we need to stop blaming ‘society’ and start looking at the families. Parents-mom AND dad-need to step up. Communities shouldn’t tolerate the crimes their children are committing. Parents need to be held accountable. We can throw a ton of money at the program, but it won’t help until people take personal responsibility for their choices and want to better their lives-legally.

+ 1 million.


Am I the only one that feels it's kind of insulting to act like people need this much "help" for basic life? Like if we don't provide full time school during a pandemic, your kids will go out and kill someone? When does this attitude start to backfire and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy? The narrative needs to change from "we need to help people more" to " people need to start being responsible for themselves and their behavior". At some point people need to make the right decisions regardless of what they claim is their victimhood status in a country that truly does offer so much opportunity. Not that it isn't harder for some, but empowering people to believe they can overcome those difficulties (see PP that is an EPA scientist despite much difficulty). That is the way to a better society for all. Not more government programs amongst the belief that people need someone other than family and community.

No, you’re definitely not the only one. I’m all for social programs to help people get through hard times, but there are entire sections of society who use these programs their entire lives. Decades ago, families would be mortified to be on welfare for years and years. Now, people feel entitled to it forever. It’s lazy. I mean, kids who see parents getting endless government assistance have no reason to think “gee, maybe I should go to school, follow the law, and find a job so i don’t end up like that.” yes, they are poor but they are getting by and receiving monthly checks without having to work. There is no motivation. The breakdown of families is at the root of the problem in my opinion-and government programs can’t replace good parenting.