Can Anything be done to solve this problem?

by Anitra Brown

Juvenile crime has spiked in New Orleans. Actually, that is an understatement. From 2016 to 2018, juvenile felony arrests have more than doubled from 300 to 735. And youth are being arrested more and more for especially violent crimes. The arrests of juveniles for shootings, armed robberies and sexual assaults increased from 37 in 2015 to 339 in 2018, according to data collected by Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

Orleans DA Leon Cannizzaro

DA Leon Cannizzaro has called violent juvenile crime the city’s top safety issue. That’s up for the debate. Despite the spike, others contend that the DA is overstating the issue, arguing that juvenile arrests still only represent a small portion of all violent crime arrests made in the city and that Cannizzaro is just trying to make youth–mostly black and poor youth, especially–out to be big bad boogie men terrorizing the town.

But the exact number of felonious juveniles arrested and charged with crimes or how those numbers compare with adults arrested for violent crimes mean absolutely nothing when you are scared to walk down the street or afraid that your car is going to burglarized or vandalized. To be sure, wrangling over data really becomes trite when your loved one is killed by a someone too young to vote, or drink or even shave. Last week, a couple in mid-city attempting to stop the burglary of their vehicle was shot by the 17-year-old car suspect. The 63-year-old woman died from her injuries. Last December, a pastor’s wife was killed–run over by a car–during a carjacking by two teens and a juvenile.

The families of these women don’t want to haggle over numbers. Neither should we. It is solution time.

We can’t afford to lose another life to senseless violence. Nor can we afford to have another young person lost forever to the criminal justice system because of stupid, senseless, and violent acts.

One more will be one too many.

There is no shortage of institutions, individuals and issues to share the blame for the problem–a broken juvenile justice system, policing failures, failing schools, and an inequitable economic landscape.

Youth in New Orleans need jobs and better economic opportunities. They need better educational opportunities. Until and unless our city’s leaders and the policies they enact and implement address the root causes of crime, New Orleans will continue to have a problem with both juvenile and adult crime and violence.

Yet, attacking juvenile crime at the root of the problem–a lack of opportunity and inequity–is no quick fix. It requires long-term solutions that will take a time for tangible results to show. It will be hard work, but it will also be worth it. And there must be people doing this work for the sake of the future.

But, what should we do in the meantime? What should we do while we wait for jobs that need to be created, training that must be provided, degrees that haven’t been conferred, and economic opportunity that is not yet equitable to finally stop the bullets and the burglaries?

The answer is plain. We must hold every individual and institution charged with addressing this issue RIGHT NOW accountable and responsible for it RIGHT NOW–schools, city leaders, the juvenile court system, the police department, parents and youth.

Curfew laws need to be strictly enforced for juveniles. Statistics that show a drop in juveniles being detained for curfew violations is likely the result of police spending less time focusing on identifying and detaining youth too young to be on the streets alone after a certain hour than it is the result of fewer youth breaking curfews. Policing must be effective, consistent, fair, results-driven and community-oriented.

Meanwhile, Orleans Parish Public Schools, with its patchwork of quasi-private charter operations, must reign in the ability of each one of these independent schools and their leaders to arbitrarily expel students. Turning students out on the streets by suspending and expelling them, criminalizing school-level discipline issues all while failing to provide them with the quality education they deserve contributes to the problem of juvenile delinquency at a fundamental level.

The juvenile justice system–from the prosecutor’s officer to public defenders to child and family services to the courts–must also step up its game. When a young person finds him or herself in the juvenile justice system, the opportunity to positively impact a life, the chance to help a child in need of direction and correction cannot be wasted. Juvenile offenders should not be treated like adults; but through adjudication and even after, they should be appropriately punished, intensely supervised and adequately rehabilitated. When incarceration is necessary, the focus cannot be on simply jailing a youthful offender. It must be on preparing that young person to return to society.

There must be programs and protocols in place to monitor their progress and activity. Addressing recidivism and re-entry can no longer be issues for the systems designed to deal with adult offenders. The ability of minors to find their place in society after an encounter with the criminal justice system is just as important for them as it is for adults. Perhaps it is more important. 

Finally, and perhaps more importantly, parents and youth must take responsibility. Really, it’s midnight. And if you don’t know where your teenager is, you should! There is a big difference between advocating for/protecting our children and foolishly defending them when they are wrong or not providing the oversight they need. Young people must understand that there are consequences for their actions. And if they are not facing consequences at home, they will certainly face them in the streets. Parents who are dropping the ball must be accountable.

Of course, every kid that gets in trouble doesn’t do so because their families are failing. So many of our families face challenges daily just to make ends meet that even the most important things can fall through the cracks. So as a community, we have to seal the cracks. Systems must be in place to support those who are doing their best, but facing obstacles leading their young people in the right path. The Mayor’s office of Youth and Family Services can be a powerful weapon in that arsenal if used effectively by linking parents in need of help to resources.

The bottom line is that any solution to addressing juvenile crime must be a concerted effort among all with a vested interest in the community.

And since that should be each and every resident of the city, ask yourself how you can help.

12 thoughts on “Out of Control Juvenile Crime”
  1. I have been watching 50 (FIFTY YEARS) of teen criminal stories. 50 years of senseless criminal conduct in spite of decades of help applied in many types of programs, schooling, training, policing and entitlements.
    If there was a success with these ideas it was 1% or less. And the 99% who never got better went on to find women to make babies with and produce more and more children who lived worse than their parents and with total disregard for any human life whether in the womb or walking down the street.
    ————————————————————————————————————-
    We have seen the human ideas of appeasements, pacification, capitulation, medication, psychiatry, meditation, playgrounds, mentoring, and counseling.
    ————————————————————————————————————-
    Spending trillons of dollars to give away free programs, rehabilitate schools and offer multitudes of free entitlement programs to the under privileged people and children to have access to opportunities for self improvements educational.
    ————————————————————————————————————-
    A few people grasped the opportunities and progressed, most others scoffed and followed decades of being beguiled and sold their lives to hedonism, hate, envy,
    greed, malice, and served these idols and then passed them on to their children
    and grand children.

    HUMANS WITH HUMAN SOLUTIONS CAN ONLY PUT A BAND AID ON EVIL IN PEOPLE OR EVIL FROM PEOPLE, FOR THE TRUTH AND FACTS SHOW US THAT THE ONLY CURE FOR EVIL MINDS, MINDS BEGUILED BY THE MASTER OF EVILS, CAN ONLY BE FIXED BY THE TRUTH OF GOD.
    THE PROBLEM IS NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD BUT SPIRITUAL!
    GOD HAS THE PERMANENT SOLUTIONS!
    2019 – MAY 13
    50 YEARS OF HUMAN IDEAS 50 YEARS OF INCREMENTAL FAILURES!
    MONEY DOES NOT STOP EVILS.

  2. NOPD Retired. 8 years in the Juvenile Division
    My Opinion
    17 year old offenders should still be treated as Adults. You can’t leave this law that allows 17 year olds to be considered juveniles.
    The only difference between driving a vehicle and raising a child is that you need a license to drive a vehicle. Therefore the parents of juvenile offenders need to be accountable for the actions of their children. This means hit them in their pocket book.
    When citizens fled to Texas with their children after Katrina, the parents soon realized that the Texas Juvenile Court system doesn’t fool around. Consequently some parents sent their children back to New Orleans to live with:
    Aunts Uncles Grandparents and I’m not kidding, their friends and neighbors.
    When the juveniles without proper supervision started getting arrested, it was nearly impossible to get the parents to return to the City to accompany their children to Juvenile Court.
    I’ve seen hundreds of parents sign out their children from the juvenile office (when it was in headquarters) and on their way out , not even raise their hands to slap or whip their kids. Some parents even went one way while the kid walked in another direction.
    I’m telling you if the kids aren’t treated like the criminals that they are, there will be no solution to the rising juvenile crime situation.
    Make the parents financially responsible for their children’s criminal actions and see a decline in juvenile crime.
    Arrested adults have to pay to bond out of jail , why not juveniles. If they are committing adult type crimes, they and their parents should both be held to much higher standards.
    Whether you agree or disagree, what is your solution ?

    1. LBRC- What happens when Big Egos are “Incongruent” with “Big Credentials”? 1st a “Real” brief story: 

      1. Son became a teenager. All of a sudden he felt competent to “Advise” father, to which father said? “This is great, you feel like you know something”! Typically, the place to go where people know and learn things is “School”. Let’s compare and contrast my school achievements vs yours, but not based on grades alone, though grades are important as well-

      a. I have already earned a diploma and several Degrees, Undergrad and Grad. I missed something! Have you even “Earned” a High School Diploma yet? Not important? Yeah right!

      b. We won’t talk statistics aka “Income Disparities vs Educational Stats”! You look confused! 

      c. Your last “School” Report Card says? Every young person in the U.S. is required to attend school aka Smart, Dumb, Retarded, Crazy not so or very? All get grades aka are “Rated”! What’s wrong with this ‘Pitcha? Clue- What is your High School Diploma Rating? Ans. No Diploma yet? No “Been there done ‘Dat”, not even a Bag of Chips? Okay! 

      2. Langinappe and Thought Experiment- Remember the program, “Scared Straight”? It purported to “Scare” kids into right directions by those serving time in prison having “already” gone in the “wrong” direction(s). Question: Who do you believe is best “Qualified” advising kids about how to stay “out” of jail?- One who has never been or one who is already there and probably more than once plus for some time? I’ve never served time in prison! (Disclaimer: Some are innocent. Some are unlucky. Some are victims of Stupid. I’m neither A, B or C!). 

      2nd- Before I traveled abroad, I sought after the advice of those who had already “Been there, done ‘Dat, got the T- Shirt and “Fee” bag of chips! Plus, I hate foreign jails/entanglements more than I do American ones! Why? Ans. The “Unknown”? In the military, reconocense taught us how to combat “Unknowns”! The Casino says to you? Take this chance! They know probability is on whose side? 

      3. The Skinny(s)-

      a. Avoid “Folly” aka unadvisedly succomb to “Stinking Thinking”! The definition of “Folly” is “Plural” for Fool!

      b. Avoid “a” Fool(s)! 1 definition of Fool? Many of “Your” friends and most of what “You” believe void of evidence- Physical, Spiritual, Scientific, yada…, “Deep 6 Emotional! Disclaimer again: Emotions are “Real” too, but dangerous! 

      c. About “Your” (The son) advice? Show me (father) some Credentials!

      Heard it said- “By the time a man realizes his father knew what he was talking about, he has a son who thinks “He’s” crazy!

      Peace Out…

  3. Yep, parenting is a cultural problem. When parents protect their juvenile actions they are doing their children a disservice. Rather than arrest them, send them to parenting school where they will be obliged to study the rules for obligatory citizenship. Too many generations have not been held accountable.

  4. Can Anything be done to solve this problem? by Anitra Brown

    Rolling on floor laughing!!!!
    Sorry, Anita! But children are delinquents because way too often, the parents and
    grandparents are also delinquents and have neglected their duty role models.
    This is often the results that multi-generational families have lived their lives at the Idol of Self Worship and followed the gods & demons & Idols of Hedonism.

    HUMAN ideas will not solve this problem.
    YES, only Gods ways will fix your teens, and the parents and the world!
    Human ideas mock and ridicule Gods instructions, and God will let you follow your ideas which then will cause more harm to others and self because human opinions come from reprobate minds.
    God has said, my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. The 10 commandments, pushed out of schools, Illustrated the gradual depravity of humans as eventually they rejected God and also rebelled each commandments and they show you how bad a human declines.
    You do not need a number 11, because at 10, your gone.
    New Orleans was started upon 300 years ago gone!

    I empathize with your concerns, but your ideas are the failed thoughts of 10, 20, 30, 40, & 50 years of those that preceded with the same failed conjectures and the past who thought their ways are better than Gods ways.
    I lived thru their insanity of capitulations, appeasements, pacification.
    Evidence shows they have done more harm than good!

    Gods instructions are highly educational at converting people to abandon evil and turn to His ways and follow wisdom that leads to properly living towards your neighbors and the community.
    No where in history, does God ever promote a “jail incarceration prison system”.
    Humans in history, who ignore Gods ways to “fix humans”, were the people who invented jails and prisons to restrain humans who do harm to people.
    The distress to me is that God says as time goes on, and humans leave Him and
    reject Him, that it is all going to get worse with the use of human ideas and opinions to fix the earths evils, there fore, mankind will be led by the Prince of Darkness to try to exterminate each other, and some of it has already started!
    2019, May 20

    1. You are talking foolishness! Are you really a Bishop? The church of old racist stuff coming back? Is this the resurrection of discrimination? Please explain yourself sir.
      BTW I am a white man!

  5. We’ve heard all this before! Throw money at the problem? We’ve done that for years! It’s all become a hustle industry where self righteous do-gooders sitting around discussing emotional issues with NO concrete results, just passing through the problems and passing them on to the next generation! Lyndon Baines Johnson passed social programs that helped destroy poor families, mostly Black families. He promoted government dependence and destroyed familial responsibility. As an inner city landlord for 30 odd years, I saw this first hand. Young girls getting pregnant at 15 for the “check”, her way out of the cycle. Sad thing is, it only perpetuated the disfunction. Young wanna-be gangsters hustling crime to gain “respect” only to fall victim to “tribal” warfare. Mothers protecting these kids with ferocity that a momma lion would envy and baby-daddies no where in site! A tragic way to live.

  6. LBRC- Let’s Talk Great Elders and Griot on The Deliquent Parent and Juvenile Crime!

    1. Dr. MLK told us? “You can deny ‘Dat Gravity exist. Go to the top of a tall building and jump! Gravity will break you before you break it”!/Paraphrased…

    2. Newton said of 1 of his 3 Laws in Physics, “For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction!

    *Note: illiteracy couldn’t delineate differences between Newton or a Fig Newton. This does not negate Laws of Physics which have endured the Test of Time and on- going testing! Some will say, LBRC is just showing off. In a sence yes! We like to believe we thrive with knowledge, not ignorance, The Most High said, “He would not have “us” ignorant! There are elements in the Negro Community learned to be resentful, envious, jealous and hateful, toward those who positively worked hard to posess what intellectual Sluggards do not have! There are consequences for refusing to be educated! Education and effort facilitates  “Self Help”! “Free is what you are Free to do, always add consequences, Positive or Negative long and short term.

    3. There are physical and Spiritual “Consequences” for criminal behavior. These will break you, before you’re allowed to escape consequence free in this world, or in the 1 to follow!

    4. This world requires “Resources”! Problems associated with Juvenile Crime or other require resources! 

    5. How did Negroes get here aka “2019” state of affairs? How profound are the Psychological, Physical and Economic Consequences of enslavement? Solutions?

    a. Make the case for Economic “Reprations” via Congress. No need to rehash why! Askenazi Jews, so- called Native- Americans, Japanese Americans and yada…, any questions? Disclaimer: Reparations are not “The Cure All”! Who said, “A Fool and his money (We Add Resources) shall soon part”?

    b. Dr. King said- “America’s check to the Negro has returned “NSF”. In 2019, America spends billions abroad, “Our Taxes”! GE and Trump pays how much in taxes, Trump said 0, yet their profits alone number in billions of dollars! USA Defense bought a hammer for $100K! We don’t need a “Trumpian Perpetual Conjured Audit”! We deserve a 2019 accounting by a “Certified CPA”, preferred Black! Bring back Negro affirmative action and Deep 6 Caucasion only!

    6. Here’s another clue from ‘Massa about “Survival”- ‘Massa Darwin called it “Origin of Species, Survival of The Fittest”! For simple Negroes, something got lost in translation! Meaning?

    a. Simpletons in a Comma “Worship” Sports! They believe in the power of “Brawn” over “Brains”. Here’s another clue- “The Dionasaur is extinct and The Cockroach is still here, check your mirror”! Didn’t call no names yet, why you so upset?

    b. ‘Massa Darwin talked about how Stupid the Fokken was and didn’t deserve to live, not extinct. Fokken mated in “Brutal Sex”! Honestly, what Deliquent Parents do to innocent kids with respect to resources and morals is no less brutal, nevertheless- Survival of The Fittest says- “A Fool and His Life Shall Part”! You call Prison living, “living”? Precisely the point!

    7. Either conform to Laws of Nature and The Most High or- “They’ll Break You before you are allowed to escape, either in this world or the next! 

    “Ignorance does not negate Science from The Most High, Science negates it”! Is ‘Dis ‘Thang on? Peace Out…

  7. A Great Elder sang?…

    LBRC- So Sad!! Deliquent and irresponsible parents who “Breed” Criminals (Include White Collar)? Excuses? 

    What did the great Dave Bartholomew sang? (Disclaimer: Lots of Criminals have “Organic” issues aka Special Ed., Retarded and even so- called “Crazy Check” issues. Others including veterans have PTSD issues from wars like Vietnam, Gulf Wars combined with “Katrina + Hurricane Betsy” + ensuing Racism Issues plus yada…, and we’re still here! Never lived in ‘Massa’s (Still Rule Lots Mentally) Cages, out and thievies, rape, murderers, etc., Cave dwellers!!! Talk about Vicious and Filthy Neanderthals! Whole families! 

    Lucky us? Heard it said- “The more I plan, the Luckier I get”! Hmmm…, 

    “Survival of The Fittest sometimes means “Stupid is as Stupid Does”! Just keeping it real Imhotep! We just Sayin…).

    *Back to Dave and what he sang?…

    “I went on down to The Audubon Zoo, and they all asked for you!

    1. The Elephant asked…

    2. The Lion asked…

    3. The man with The Big Toe asked, they all asked!”…

    Why we asked?

    Ans. “Because you know you belong in ‘Dat Cage”!

    Sadly, Uh oh…

    Peace Out…

  8. Hey Chief! Give us an “Equitable Action Plan”!

    LBRC- Is NOPD a “Robo Cop”? Have worked on Movie Sets! Once met the “On Site” Psychologist for the movie Robo Cop. Was so curious about the Psychology of why Robo Cop was “Programed” not to attack his creators and “Engineers” and parallels with reality? 1st a “Real Life” Hypothesis and Experiment, then extrapolations! Anectodal?

    Hypothesis- NOPD is “Robo Cop”!

    Procedures: 

    1. After my son proved a measure of responsibility, I gave him a “Newly” purchased truck. Personally, I drive a “Perceived White Dominated” Luxury Vehicle. 

    2. I swapped vehicles with my son and drove thru Ghetto/’Gutto so- called communities plus recorded interactions with NOPD. btw- You would think Caucasion NOPD Officers were the most disrespectful and harsh, on the contrary! It was as though Negro NOPD couldn’t wait to disrespect in a “show- off of “authority”!

    3. Though my son’s truck was a “Generic New”, it didn’t seem to deter Negro NOPD about “Established” Caste Rankings!

    4. Then I swapped back into my “Perceived” Caucasion Luxuary Vehicle. For 1 Month, recorded NOPD stops in the so- called Ghetto/’Gutto. 

    a. Whenever I articulated “Academic” resistance to Negro NOPD (Most of the Several rare relatively speaking stops), they seemed reluctant to abuse! 

    b. Never once a stop by a “Caucasion” NOPD in my perceived “White Luxuary Vehicle”! Is this a faux experiment? We’ve got “Names, Badge # and footages we’re sharing internationally to friends who always ask questions about “American Racism” and psychological impacts of “Enslavement”, like what Carl Degler codified in “Studies of Remnants of Oppression”!

    Conclusions and Extrapolations:

    1. New Orleans NOPD is a Robo Cop! How so? Caucasion NOPD will murder and plot Negro Citizens perceived “Powerless”, and Negro NOPD easily acquiences (Danzinger 7 , any questions)! Give a 20+ year old average “C to D” High School Immature poorly developed “Frontal Lobe”  Diploma a gun and authority, then what?

    2. “Robo Cop” (In The Movie) was programmed to fight every criminal  and enforce codified law “Except” and if his “Creators” were the criminal! No different in 2019 with “Programmed” Negro NOPD! How many times have you seen Negro NOPD abusing or disrespecting Caucasion elements, especially “White Collar” in the community or Murder them in cold blood? Disclaimer: Murder is murder period, end of sentence! Why is NOPD disrespect so ubiquitous in Negro communities? Rhetorical…

    3. Back to movie sets and Psychologist? Robo Cop initially though not confirmed in my conversations with a movie consultant, had to be “Symbolic” of Negro Cops!

    a. NOPD Chief tells NOE/ New Orleans East to wait for “Equitable Protection”! NOE is the “Largest” land mass in NOLA! The French quarter during Mardi Gras hardly equals 1/15 the population of all of NOLA. Yet- they’re plush with police “bodies”! What the …!

    b. The indigenous vs “Out of Towners”? Who pays taxes besides Hotel Fees and yada…

    Hey Chief! Are you and is NOPD Robo? We just ‘askin? Give us a “Basic Logic” rebuttal! Respectfully,

    Peace Out…

  9. HELLO NOLA COMMUNITY PEOPLE !!!
    Today is June 07, 2019 Friday,
    DA Cannizaro on TV night the 06th shared that “catch and release” of teen criminals is destroying the city and tormenting the citizens and tourist! AMEN!!!

    AND , DA Cannizaro spoke of 1 teen arrested and released 20 times in One Month!
    Hmmm, what does that stat say to us!
    AND, DA Cannizaro announced that a man caught that stole 80 cars and shot at
    residents 9 times in New Orleans,
    Last week the Mayor and Police Chief announced the City is living in fear and out of control, Teens are dominating the news with their crimes!

    Across the USA, more cities are facing the same conditions like Chicago where teen crime people acts are out of control, with harm and death constantly happening 24/7 with no relief, and seriously much worse among black residents.

    The Juvenile Study Hall Hotel Meditation Center has only 48 Bed cells, but the police can arrest 1000 a month, which means not enough room!

    NOW there is a 3 strikes idea back again,,,, Oh, what is that, Well it allows a teen to break your window 3 times on your car, with no consequence, and on the 4th time then arrested and sent to the Detention Hall for treatments and meet a psychobabble witch doctor that tries to unscramble the demons inside of these repeat teen criminals, which does not work.
    AND the parents are supposed to be “fined” and or do community service work, but this has never happened. MY suspicion is the Mayor and Police let them all go, because they do not want to anger “voters” !
    THIS is what DA Cannizaro is really facing.
    AND it is entrenched all across New Orleans NOW,
    Lawlessness is prevailing, and Leaders have circumvented laws which is capitulating to the public and appeasing parents and children.
    OHHH,,,,, but fear not, the MAYOR installed 10 New Mobile Cameras to
    remove some more millions of dollars from you and give to her, while
    the school cameras are off for the summer.
    She might want to take another vacation trip!

    —————

  10. The DA is spouting racist scare tactics. Are You scared Mr. Bishop? What church do you lead? Cause any church that teaches fear is not any church but a cult. You a cult leader Mr. Bishop? Why you tripping like that? Pray and trust Mayor C. to do the right thing. You right bout her taking our money though. That is true!

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