Baltimore's record-high homicide rate--one of the highest in the U.S.--is tied to decisions in 2015 by local authorities to "cut back" on policing and prosecution, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Monday
During Mr. Rosenstein's tenure as Maryland's top federal prosecutor, local, state and federal authorities jointly targeted gangs and secured long prison terms for armed criminals, he said during a speech at a meeting of the American Correctional Association in Orlando, Fla. He credited that strategy for keeping the city's homicide rate at a low level until 2014.
"But in 2015, local authorities decided to try a new strategy," Mr. Rosenstein said. "They decided to cut back on policing and prosecution. And what happened next? Baltimore's murder rate skyrocketed."
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Policing Pull-Backs and Crime Increases
Scott Calvert reports for the WSJ:
Chicago's murder rate has gone down--does Sessions deserve any of the credit? Will he get any if some credit is his?
Talk followed-up by decisive action is not cheap.
My 1st step in knocking-out a targeting package was to ID the target.
Some folk are too dishonest to do so, thus they deny or deflect which
prevents neutralization of the threat.
Many scoffed at President Trump’s tweets about federal help to stop the “carnage” there. “Chicago’s murder rate wasn’t even in the top 10 among large cities,”
tweeted USA Today law and justice reporter Brad Heath in response.
The Atlantic observed that “there are a number of cities . . . that have much, much higher homicide rates.” A CNN column argued that “a deeper dive into the
numbers shows fears over the city’s violence can be overblow.."
[51% of all U.S. murders are committed in just 2% of the nation’s counties,
according to the Crime Prevention Research Center.]
~ https://www.city-journal.org/html/sub-chicago-
and-americas-real-crime-rate-15341.html
========== ========== ==========
Chicago to get additional federal prosecutors to help combat violent crime
AP | Dec 17, 2017
The Department of Justice says Chicago's U.S. attorney's office is getting
additional staff prosecutors so it can do more to reduce violent crime.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says a total of 40 new prosecutors will be
distributed ... the Chicago-based northern district of Illinois will get three,
as will a district of Maryland.
Chicago's U.S. attorney's office has more than 150 prosecutors. It has said
for years that staff numbers were down, hampering its ability to open more
gang and guns cases.
[No help from Chicago-native Pres. Obama? Axelrod? Emanuel?]