Same City, Different Worlds

by Matt Kelley · 2009-01-28 15:50:00 UTC
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Baltimore officials bused five teenagers from juenvile detention facilities last week to sit in on a panel discussion about crime in the city and new methods of dealing with it. This is the kind of communication we need to see more frequently as our cities seek new solutions to the failed standards of crime and punishment. It's too often that these conferences and meetings take place without the people they aim to help - those who have been convicted of crime or have been the victim of a crime.

This is the kind of exchange that can lead to new ways of thinking:

Asked whether they felt safe in their neighborhoods, their answers showed just how tenuous staying on the right path can be.

"For me, safe or not safe, it doesn't matter because things can go bad in a second," said one of the teens, who added that he once made $850 a week on the streets slinging drugs. "But if I've got [a gun], I'm the man and you can't say nothing to me. If I don't have a [gun], I'll walk around with a knife."

At one point, the panel moderator asked the teens whether any of their family or friends had been killed.

"This year?" one asked.

H/T: CrimProfBlog

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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