OPINION:
The D.C. Council fails to understand that prisoners who commit violent crimes at young ages do so as the result of abuse and neglect, both physical and emotional, that take decades to reverse (“D.C. Council OKs early release of violent offenders with veto-proof majority,” Web, Dec. 15). And the council failed at reassuring the public by sharing with us the opinions of expert witnesses from medical, mental, social and criminal fields.
As a youth counselor, I have enough stories of young men being released from incarceration early only to return due to the fact that they lacked social skills, job skills and sufficient support networks. It is shocking and insensitive to the victims’ families when the author of this legislation “feels” that since a person’s death can’t be reversed, there is no need for killers to finish out their sentences.
This rationale is being used in an effort to reduce the number of incarcerated Black males. Maybe new legislation should focus instead on the social circumstances that create the criminal mentality. Increasing funding in early-childhood education or job training for teenagers could help prevent a person from becoming a criminal.
It is always easier and less expensive for taxpayers to prevent youth from engaging in criminal behavior than to reverse the behavior once it starts.
GREG RALEIGH
Washington
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