Laughing at violence
At yesterday's monthly meeting with Baltimore criminal justice officials, Mayor Sheila Dixon had some disturbing news: she talked about a video that captured a 17-year-old being shot in a carryout, with two girls leaning against a wall and laughing. Other poeple were seen stepping over the victim to collect their food.
"I was just floored," Dixon said, according to Baltimore Sun police reporter Justin Fenton who attended the meeting. "People came in to get orders, it was business as usual. ... There's clearly mentally disturbed individuals in this city."
Prosecutors later refused to make a copy of the video available. It wasn't shown at the meeting of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and a spokeswoman for the city State's Attorney's Office said the tape is evidence and not yet part of the court file.
Dixon, who is passionate about juvenile crime, told the group it is "imperative to have as much information as possible as it relates to juveniles and treatment of the crimes they commit. ... Don't take it the wrong way, I get plenty of criticism -- if anybody is sensitive and caring and believe in giving another chance, it's me... [but] we've got to begin at all levels to make things tougher and harder" for people who commit violent crimes.
Dixon continued: "We have the laws to send a message that we won't tolerate" such behavior, yet there's all these cases where people are being released. "I know there's more to it, but as a layperson, you've got to show me" why this is happening.
Dixon called on the CJCC to examine court medical records and the use of reverse waivers (in which juveniles accused in adult court petition to have their cases returned to the juvenile system). In the case with the video, Circuit Judge John P. Miller said the young man charged in the shooting remains in adult court.
State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy discussed the divide between adult and juvenile courts and suggested an idea of "blended sentences" that could include time served both in junvenile and adult system. That, she said, would give judges more choices. "Prosecutors know the kids who go back into the community may end up dead. We're hopeful we can save lives."
This is not the first time a city mayor has been angry at the conduct of residents at crime scenes:
Back in 1998, then Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke rode with city police and rolled up on a shooting scene From a story I wrote a decade ago:
On a ride-along with police, the city's chief executive sped to three shootings and at one point stood over a wounded young man lying face down on a street with four bullets in his back.
"A friend of his comes along and looks down," Schmoke recalled yesterday. "And he doesn't say to the police or to me, 'How's he doing?' He says, 'What are you all going to do with that boy's cigarettes?' That is showing no regard for human life."
Schmoke, at a groundbreaking for the new deaf community off Frederick Avenue, noted a recent crime drop and new initiatives from Inner Harbor hotels to a revamped Howard Street business corridor. He praised the recent Whitbread Round the World Race that pit-stopped in Baltimore and put the city in the global spotlight.
"The image of a city that greeted the Whitbread was an image that greeted the world," the mayor said. "That was a positive image. But then you see what happened [Monday] night. That's another image. It really is a tale of two cities."
The story ended this way:
But Schmoke said the drama of what is considered routine gave him a new sense of appreciation for his police and what they and law-abiding citizens face every day. He said new overtime patrols could start Monday.
"We've got a beautiful city, but we are also home to half the state's poor," he said. "Although most poor people are struggling to do well, we've got a minority, particularly young men, who place no value on human life."
Schmoke said he was "very disappointed with the crowd" that gathered at Edmondson and Pulaski after the double shooting.
"There were not a lot of people showing outrage and disgust about the whole thing," he said. "That crowd does not represent all of our citizens, but among the young men around there, it was almost a sporting sense. These victims were in the game and they lost."
Comments
Pete-
Why are we dancing around this issue? The behavior you have described is bestial. There. It's been said.
It it so beyond a rational, civilized person's comprehension that I for one haven't the foggiest idea how to deal with people like that.
Like your previous column, I would never ever live in Baltimore City and I fear for my home in the county as the city descends further into anarchy.
Posted by: bryanintimonium | December 12, 2008 8:20 AM
Why are children... and adults too... so immune the horror of lost life...especially in such a grim and horrific way? Pop culture amplifies this in many ways. We've all seen Tony Soprano blow a person's brains out and go eat pasta with his family a few moments later. Why are we okay with this violence?
Posted by: Meg | December 12, 2008 9:37 AM
Poverty is what causes human beings in the city to act like animals. That's what makes people shoot others. That's what takes away a person's capacity for concern for human life. That's what makes a person look down at someone else that has been shot and only think about whether the victim's cigarettes will go to waste. Poverty needs to be dealth with, not just brushed under the carpet.
Posted by: Eddie | December 12, 2008 11:03 AM
As a Baltimore City teacher, this behavior doesn't surprise me at all. One of the most frightening things I experience is the lack of compassion so many of our children have for others. It used to be that we felt bad for the person who was attacked and injured. My students tend to feel disdain for the injured person, believing that they are weak and therefore deserve what they got. The aggressor is seen as strong and is admired. I don't know how much of this results from their immediate environment. I have no recent experience working with children who grew up in suburban or rural environments so I can't compare.
Posted by: Avalon | December 12, 2008 1:06 PM
We keep lowering our standards and we wonder why things keep getting worse?
We should just quit this slow death and turn the country over to the liberals and be done with it.
Posted by: Marcus | December 12, 2008 1:07 PM
Poverty doesn't have anything to do with it. Compassion isn't wiped out just because you are poor. We were not rich when we grew up but we were taught to respect life.
Posted by: Cathy | December 12, 2008 1:25 PM
Wow what a horrible place Baltimore must be for people to act like that. To laugh and not help a person who was shot? The whole city should be ashamed. No respect for human life or personal morals? Were you all raised by a pack of wolves? I’d say you’re all bound for Hell but apparently you enjoy making your home already a hell so what would change. All of you in Baltimore give humans a bad name; you are horrible, just completely horrible people
Posted by: Phil | December 12, 2008 3:53 PM
Children in Baltimore are accustomed to the violence. I know a white male who was carjacked and dropped off in the middle of the city wearing nothing but his boxers. Several elementary school aged children knew exactly why this white man in nothing but his boxers was in their neighborhood that night. They laughed and chanted, "Whitey got carjacked!"
Posted by: Robin | December 13, 2008 2:16 PM