which law?

  Baltimore like most major cities in America today has a serious crime problem. Every politician running for office in the last ten years has made promises about fixing that. Another election cycle is fast approaching and I'm hearing all that again. The current administration and the one preceding this developed a crime plan. Apparently, the plan is to simply allow what they call "low level" crime. By not arresting those engaged in such criminal activities there has been a reduction in crime. The most startling thing to me, but apparently lost on others, is this idea that if you get shot but are only wounded, that's progress. I hear that a lot when those politicians are talking about gun violence and the reduction of homicides in the city. Yes, fewer are dying from gunshots, doesn't mean fewer are getting shot though.

 It is this notion of not enforcing low level crimes that is fueling the rise in crime. I listen as they explain the are short staffed, they don't have enough officers, enough jails, enough judges to prosecute all that. They just don't have the time for that, enforcing all the laws, so they will just select the ones they determine to the serious ones. And therein lies the change. When I was younger, back in the dark ages, breaking the law, any law, was a serious thing. The punishment was certainly based upon the severity of the crime but whatever I had done was serious! It's true that obtaining results from punishment is dependent upon the individual.

  With some folks all that is required is a stern reprimand while others require something a bit more forceful. The thing is all infractions must be called out! What the politicians like to call accountability. Oh, that's a watchword today; accountability, but what it means now is finding someone else to blame. The one committing the offense isn't held accountable for that, there is most likely some social wrong responsible. Perhaps the person is poor, that's a good enough reason to steal, not their fault they are poor. It's the fault of the government for not providing relief to those people! If it isn't that it is more than likely because of some phobia! The others have as phobia, not the one committing the crime. They are victims of a phobia.

 Look it all goes back to an old adage. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. That's just a fact. When you allow minor infractions to go unnoticed, unrecognized and unpunished the result will be more serious infractions occurring. We say, letting them get away with it. They are letting criminals run rampant in the streets and doing nothing about it. It's out of control. The only way to regain control is to use ever stronger measures. That becomes difficult when you have allowed all that in the past. No different from a child when they say, but you said it was okay yesterday. 

 You must enforce the law, all the laws. You have to do that consistently and without exception. Nothing serves as a deterrent when it isn't applied. There are so many avenues to escape punishment no one is afraid of being punished. In fact, in some instances that situation provides opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise. We are so busy rehabilitating, empowering, and being compassionate that we aren't addressing the root cause of the problem. What is the root cause? The lack of respect for the law. It's that simple. When you raise an entire generation of children to believe that society is responsible for their actions, that is what will happen. 

 It all begins with that. We have to teach our children that laws exist for their benefit, not to punish them. I often heard, it's for your own good, as I received some form of punishment. I seldom agreed with that reasoning. And the ever present, you know better. I didn't really have a response to that one because I did know better.  Do the ends justify the means? That is to say should I obey the law because of fear or because of a sense of civic duty? Who's to blame? The drug dealer or the one buying the drugs? If I can't buy the drugs, I can't use them. Equally true is no one is forcing me to buy those drugs. Are the drugs killing people, or are the people using drugs killing themselves? Are some laws okay to break? If so, why do we have them? If we didn't have any laws, there would be no crime. Isn't that the goal? But we need laws, the ones I agree with. That's the new rule being taught. The law should be tailored for each individual.