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I happen to have a small bit of perspective on the situation. My mother grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and much of my extended family is still there. I
by ibsulon 18y ago
I happen to have a small bit of perspective on the situation. My mother grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and much of my extended family is still there. I spent part of my childhood in the environment, and there was a crack house across the street from my home for a small part of it. My cousin was in a gang. (This is in a major drug corridor in the southwest.)
There's a large difference between a community member as a judge and a cop who doesn't even live in the area and views those who do with contempt. This colors their judgement, and the punishment often has more to do with the perception of the "defendant" than the actual crime.
Is the justice system often worthless? Yes. Are the cops any better? Not really, and I'd find them much worse.
Fundamentally, the problem is that Johnny can't get a job because he can't do basic math or read. Jobs within their reach aren't enough to pay bills, and those who can get the jobs that pay the bills leave the community, sometimes even their own families. (Those who can are often expected to provide for those who can't, which gets really tiring.)
The role models are poor. Those who are raised in the inner city often speak with an accent that isn't accepted by those in business. And these things encourage those to get into markets that are less inhabited by convention --- grey markets and crime.
Which the police don't understand -- they just see a thug.
The solution is that the police should live in the neighborhood in which they're assigned, they should be from or previously lived in similar neighborhoods, and the judges that see cases should be similarly informed.
- chollida1 18y ago> The solution is that the police should live in the neighborhood in which they're assigned, There is a very good reason why most cops don't live in the area that they are assigned to. It's called pay back. If a cop arrests a gang member and they happen to be neighbours how long do you think it will be before something happens to the cop's wife or children when he is at work? Cops, by design, don't patrol area's where they live.
- ibsulon 18y ago1. In this world, it's a lot easier to find someone's address and phone number, making payback much easier no matter where one lives. 2. While I understand the concern about the gang members and payback, the fundamental piece missing is that there is no accountability to one's community if you are an outsider to it. It breeds contempt, and it leads to the abuses of power that we see. There's a fundamental difference between "that gangbanger" and "Rosa's kid." (Reminding us of the recent XKCD comment.) Of course, crack changes everything and makes this ideal much harder, but the comments in the article show how disconnected from the communities these cops were. They no longer saw criminals even as human!
- wumi 18y agoI've seen first hand (Camden) what you're talking about. As I said in another comment (oddly, about third world countries) what they need is opportunity. When a good friend's brother had a baby, I've advised them -- get out of Camden. There is not enough opportunity, and too many people who will lead you down the wrong path. Going to the root of the societal problems is discussing the prevention while this article was discussing the methods used for curing. I heard somewhere an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.