Vast in scope, the report touches on topics including arrests, bail, sentencing, and the need for trauma services, victim assistance, and neighborhood investments. An executive summary included 35 recommendations, almost none of which came with concrete price tags or plans for implementation. [City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr.] acknowledged in the report’s opening pages that the document was not designed to be a solution but rather to offer “a view of the same issue through a variety of different lenses.”
Although the agencies came together to work under one banner for the project — an effort dubbed the Philadelphia Interagency Research and Public Safety Collaborative — the report was divided into sections that in some instances showcased familiar disagreements.
The Police Department, for example, noted that the District Attorney’s Office has increasingly failed to win convictions for illegal gun possession, a crime police say must be addressed to curb gunfire in the city.
But prosecutors said there was “little research supporting the approach.” And they noted that one category of gun possession — carrying without a license — was a felony in Philadelphia but a misdemeanor in the rest of the state. They called that legislative decision “inequitable and obviously racist” and said they believe the Police Department’s focus on arresting people for that crime “is having no effect on the gun violence crisis.”
“We do not believe that arresting people and convicting them for illegal gun possession is a viable strategy to reduce shootings,” the DA’s Office wrote.
— Chris Palmer in A Philly committee spent 18 months examining the city’s gun violence crisis. Here’s what it found.
Maybe we could try, I don’t know, locking up criminals? Just a thought.
And the Far Right Racists will scream “Yes put every Black Person in jail if they are caught carrying a gun but not us privileged White folks because we never commit crime and all Black people do commit crime. Sadly this is actually the case as was shown in the report. Whites outside the big cities faced a misdemeanor for carrying without a permit while inter city Blacks were charged with a more serious crime.
Who said Jim Crow was dead. He just chanced his name slightly.
You are not terribly familiar with Philly are you?
It’s not in his mommy’s basement. So NO
It’s his “fortress of solitude”.
Jim Crow was an exclusively democrat policy. How do you reconcile the deeply racist, kkk history of your political party?
Do you eat cognitive dissonance for breakfast, or are you just a garden-variety fraud?
Tim,
Human brains are incredibly complex and several factors compete for prominence and “control” in our brains. The commenter dacian vividly illustrates how competing factors can lead a person to be self-inconsistent.
It’s simple really, cognitive dissonance requires being able to consider two ideas simultaneously. Dacian’s one braincell can’t manage that, so there’s never any dissonance. Joe Biden has a similar problem, actually.
Your analysis of the issue is wrong because your premise is wrong. Philadelphia isn’t controlled by Republicans. It has been controlled by Democrats for decades. The areas outside of the cities that don’t make it a felony for anyone, including black people, are more likely to be controlled by Republicans. Your prejudice against Republicans isn’t based on reality.
Dud Brain
You ignore the facts that in court histories they have shown that blacks often get way more severe sentence than white folks who commit the same crimes. If Kyle Rittenhouse had been black that white cracker racist judge would have thrown the book at him and that is based on historical prior cases which more than one book has been written on.
“white cracker”
That’s a racial slur. Do you think racial slurs are okay as long as they’re directed toward white people? Who’s the racist again? Kyle isn’t black. Kyle wasn’t in Philly. Kyle has nothing to do with this. In other words, you aren’t making any sort of relevant point by bringing up some hypothetical situation about other people a few states over.
Do you think the people of Philly are electing Republican judges?
No Dud Brain you are ignoring what I said about prior court cases against blacks being given more server sentences. The the white cracker judge is a disgrace to the bench because of how he conducted the trial. He was even criticized by fellow white judges not to mention the black ones too who you Dud Brain, being an abject racist, will denigrate because they are black judges.
I’m not ignoring anything. I understand that racism exists.
Kyle has nothing to do with this. Race had nothing to do with Kyle’s trial, other than the black man that attacked him. Everyone has an opinion. Every single public figure and every single high profile case gets criticized by someone. That’s meaningless in this context.
And there you go again putting words in my mouth. It’s all you have. I said nothing of the sort. You said that. I’ve asked you countless times before to quote me if you think I said something that was racist. You never do. Yet here you are again, slinging racial slurs and accusations around like it’s nothing. If you really want the world to be a better place, then start with yourself. It’s much easier to criticize, isn’t it?
So habitual felons EARN more time. GOOD but what were they out of jail/prison (able to reoffend).
Perhaps; those in Philly arrested for gun possession are predominantly known criminals with extensive rap sheets? Perhaps they are also in possession of other “substances” or performing activities that meet the requirements for a felony?
Perhaps those outside the city do not have any previous criminal history and the only violation was exercising their right to keep and bear arms without a permission slip from the government?
Or perhaps the Democratic Party controlled City is more anti-gun than the rest of the State.
No whites live in the city, and no black folk live outside the city? Is that what you are saying?
Cmmunists were known to be racists like their Nazi brothers.
In the former USSR there was a lot of racism directed at the darker skinned peoples of the Caucuses and the Central Asian republics. The slur often used was “Churkas”.
China is not only openly racist but it is even state sponsored. The CCP is only promoting the superiority of the Han Chinese and all other people are either lesser or even just animals.
The Han Chinese likely has the biggest inferior it complex of any group on Earth. (other prog special interest groups are close).
darcydodo…Before you can run around pointing your slanderous libelous fingers tell this forum about the history your beloved democRat Party but you won’t so I will…
After all you and your Rat Party own the legacy of slavery, segregation, the KKK, Jim Crow, lynching, Eugenics, Gun Control and other race based atrocities. Atrocities that happened all across America and not just the South like history rewrite twerps want fools to believe.
The stench of your party rot lives on in elections and legislation all across modern history illiterate America. It comes in finger pointing and slander and libel just like it came to Black Americans running for public office or holding public office.
What you need to do is stfu and hold your party accountable for its history of rot with Monetary Reparations taken from the coffers of your democRat Party. With all the Black Americans coming to realize that a Black American belonging to the democRat Party makes as much sense as a Jew belonging to the nazi party you and your democRat Party are on thin ice.
One thing about Black Americans…They do not like being played and the democRat Party has done so many despicable things to Black Americans including playing them that guaranteeing your safety when the poo hits the fan is futile…Apologize and PAY UP while you and your ilk still can.
It was the super racist Bill and Hillary Clinton. Who referred to black men as “super predators”. It reminds me of the turn of the century white socialist Progressive atheist Labor leader, Eugene Debs. Who referred to black men as Apes.
The people running it in these places either don’t understand the problem or don’t care about it. Either way, unqualified people are constantly elected and appointed.
This article title is a misnomer, Philadelphia’s criminal justice system is functioning just as the socialist-democrats want it to. The widely elected Philly DA Larry Krassner is confirmation of this
Prndll, they don’t care. As Ranger Rick noted, it’s functioning how they want it to function. The only problem they’re interested in solving is how to obtain more funding and power.
To put it another way the civilian disarmament brigade concludes there is no point to arresting and prosecuting armed civilians.
Pretty sure cities are exclusively populated by the mentally ill at this point.
Shire-man,
“Pretty sure cities are exclusively populated by the mentally ill at this point.”
Given the general ugliness and danger of living in large cities, one could easily argue that people who choose to live in those environments have mental and/or emotional deficits.
Isn’t concluding there is no point to arresting and prosecuting armed civilians a good thing?
Only if the policy matches the philosophy.
To conclude there is no point then to demand more gun control anyway is Kafkaesque.
The best guide to understanding dysfunctional, crime-ridden big cities is the HBO series The Wire. The show is set in Baltimore (and based on actual events), but the lessons are pretty universal.
Rookie,
It is fairly easy to understand and fairly simple to explain the root causes of the ugliness, danger, and suffering in crime-ridden big cities.
The problem: many/most people do not want to hear or acknowledge those root causes.
Pa has a pretty good preemption law. Philly which is a city of the first class has certain exemptions to that law. So carrying without a license is a felony in philly and misdimeanor elsewhere. The law everywhere should be if you get caught illegally carrying a gun you do five years hard time and serve every day. Get caught again and it’s ten. Problem solved. Maybe.
The didn’t have the prison space for that kind of idea over a decade ago when I lived near there, I can’t imagine it has improved since. Not sure I could support the idea even if they did as it is a bit closer to NY practices than I would like.
Huh?? There should be NO LICENSE TO CARRY in Philly or anywhere else. Maybe people are carrying a firearm for their own protection. Maybe scumbags SHOULD be shot if they willfully attack others.
Been happening a lot more re shot dirtbags than I ever remember and PA is shall issue so its at least passably acceptable. With that said Philly is a bit wild.
City Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. – https://phlcouncil.com/CurtisJonesJr/
“Mayor’s Commission on African American Males a permanent department” Isn’t it customary to call that a JAIL? But I’d guess a “Commission” is more related to passing out other money seized from people that work for a living (and handing out cellphones, needles, condoms, and reparations).
The dichotomy in the severity of the punishment for unlicensed carry has NOTHING to do with race; it has EVERYTHING to do with population density/risk assessment. These dim-wits have no hammer other than race and all they see are nails.
“We do not believe that arresting people and convicting them for illegal gun possession is a viable strategy to reduce shootings,” the DA’s Office wrote.
BzztBzztBzzt. Cognitive dissonance attacks!
Now, hold on just a minute; There’s a nugget of logic in that statement.
The mere CARRYING of an ‘illegal gun,’ which of course cannot be readily MADE ‘legal’ because that privilege is reserved only for the elite, wealthy, and politically connected Betters in any Democrat-run enclave, isn’t the problem vis. ‘shootings;’ It’s the criminal USE of those ‘illegal guns’ that is the problem. The poor soul who carries a gun that he cannot MAKE ‘legal’ for his own protection, or for that of his loved ones, isn’t necessarily a criminal bent on using said gun for nefarious purposes, no more so than those of us who CAN possess ‘legal’ guns in less Liberal locales.
Therefore, concentrating on convictions for mere possession isn’t going to fix anything; Concentrating on those who USE that ‘illegal gun’ for evil is what is going to solve the problem. Perhaps an ascending scale of punishment for criminal use of a firearm, ranging from incarceration, to loss of a hand or hands, then loss of one or both eyes, and swift and sure execution depending upon the severity of the offense. . .
I’m relatively sure that a handless, blind, dead felon will not reoffend.
The Libertarians Liberals and the Left are all doing basically the same thing. They are making it so certain crimes they deem not to be enforced. Since they don’t have the political power to repeal these laws. They simply will support whoever will not enforce the law. These people are utopians. They believe that by making drugs legal or not enforcing existing laws.
All the crime will simply go away.
The Three L’s disagreed with a Christian who said a father is necessary in the home. To provide love and discipline. And protection. However the Three L’s supported the welfare industrial complex. Which replaces the father with a government ($$$) check. And replaces the father’s guns, with the guns of a big city police department.
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