Safety

My city is not a safe place to live.

This morning I read an article in the local paper that the 15 year old girl who was charged for beating an elderly woman with a metal table leg last August got another 30 days added to her sentence.

30 days.

On top of the mere 4 1/2 months that she has already served.

According to the article, the judge "struggled with the decision of whether to release the girl Friday, in the end deciding against it." Pardon me, but WTF??? Honestly, what's to struggle with, here? Shouldn't we be at least attempting to keep people like this off the streets for as long as possible? And in terms of a punishment, is another 30 days really going to teach this girl the lesson she so sorely needs?

This city has a real problem with swarmings and beatings, particularly in the last year or so. Last spring, a friend of mine was assaulted in the same area of town. He was, fortunately, not badly hurt, but the trauma that he suffered still affects him. I can only imagine what something like that must feel like.

Then there's the elderly woman who was beaten with a metal table leg, who suffered some pretty disturbing injuries, including several broken ribs. Part of me wonders if a person could ever recover, mentally and emotionally, from that kind of an experience. It's been about five months since it has happened - is she yet able to leave her home without feeling afraid for her life?

It is so disturbing to me to think that the young girl who participated in this assault will be back on the streets of this city in another 30 days. Oh, wait, I forgot - upon release, she'll have 15 days of being supervised within the community, 15 months on probation, and will have to take counseling. Whatever. I wonder if part of that counseling will include being made to hear stories, first hand, from victims of these kinds of attacks, so she can perhaps understand what it feels like to be terrorized in such a way. Would it really do any good, though? I can only imagine that the "counseling" that this girl will receive will be nothing but a joke to her. Can someone really be "rehabilitated" of such a violent crime after only 5 months in a correctional facility? Call me cynical, but I highly doubt it. The best part is that as a young offender, her name is never released and her record is expunged when she hits 19. Where's the accountability? There is none. Because these young criminals know that they're not going to get handed harsh punishments for their crimes.

Stories like these are particularly disturbing to me as a parent. This is the world that we're trying to raise our children in, to help guide them and teach them to become useful and productive members of society. That task is difficult enough as it is, without having to deal with these senseless random acts. I am grateful at this point that they're still young enough to not know about things like this...I am not looking forward to the day when I have to have conversations with them about personal safety and the bad things that can happen to people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How can I, as a parent, possibly protect my children from this kind of violence, when, as an adult, I am unable to protect myself? I'm sure that the poor woman who was assaulted with a metal table leg had no reason, before that incident, to fear for her life, walking in a very popular area of town. Hell, I run through that same part of town several times every week, as I am out on my morning runs. I find myself torn between wanting desperately to keep myself and my family safe, and needing to prove that the bullies of this world are NOT going to terrify me into locking myself up at home.

It's crimes like these that confound me more than any. There are many crimes, though I wouldn't personally commit them, I can understand. Theft, yes. Murder, yes. Deliberately terrifying other human beings for the sheer thrill and excitement of it? I just don't get it.

I don't know what has to happen to make this city a safer place for us to live. I sincerely hope that someone comes up with something soon, before more people are terrorized, robbed and beaten. It scares the pants off me to think about what the future may hold if something isn't done...and soon.


The full article from the Chronicle Herald can be read here.