Editorial: Don’t believe the nonsense. The criminal justice system worked properly in Venice assaults
Editorial: Don't believe the nonsense. The criminal justice system worked properly in Venice assaults Los Angeles Times
sdgtalks
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Public Safety
On Saturday, April 6, at about 10:30 p.m., a woman was brutally assaulted as she walked near the Venice canals. Another woman was attacked nearby about an hour later. Both were hospitalized.
Los Angeles police responded quickly, working with members of the Venice community to identify the suspect. Anthony Jones, 29, of Las Vegas was arrested in San Diego on April 12 and charged by L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón with rape, sodomy, mayhem, torture and attempted murder. The D.A.’s office insisted that no bail be allowed and is pursuing a life sentence.
Blaming Criminal Justice Reforms
City Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Venice, placed the blame on a decade of criminal justice reforms.
“I am sick and tired of living in the middle of a failed social experiment,” Park said, adding:
“Enough with the ridiculous soft-on-crime, defund-the-police, catch-and-release, harm-reduction, criminals-are-the-victims policies that got us into this mess. Enough.”
Park lives in Venice, and she noted that she or any of her friends could have been the victims of the attacks, so it might be tempting to cut her a bit of slack for her comment.
Furthermore, her words capture frustrations and anxieties many residents of Los Angeles feel about public safety.
But the statement is widely off-base and egregiously misleading, and falls short of the standard that should be expected of elected officials. None of Park’s “failed social experiment” allegations fits the horrible Venice attacks or the aftermath.
Examining the Facts
Jones had no arrest record in L.A. and was not the beneficiary of any supposedly “soft-on-crime” policy that abetted his alleged actions in Venice. He was quickly arrested and charged to the fullest possible extent.
L.A. police have seen a reduction in the number of sworn officers, requiring a large amount of overtime pay to get the job done. But the department has not been “defunded” in any sense, and the city budget is in fact under strain from the substantial pay increase Mayor Karen Bass offered in order to improve officer recruitment and retention. In any case, police had the investigative expertise and personnel to swiftly identify Jones and make the arrest.
“Catch-and-release?” Hardly. Jones was not a released inmate or suspect, and it’s now unlikely he will ever again be free from custody, assuming police arrested the right person.
And, importantly, he is not an outlier. Contrary to anti-reform folklore, no one charged with a dangerous felony is simply let go unless they can raise a lot of money for bail. In the Venice case, as with many other cases of attempted murder and sexual assault, the district attorney said he’d ask that Jones be held without bail at all.
“Harm-reduction,” or providing help and overdose prevention to drug users, does not apply to Jones. There was no reported evidence of substance use.
And as for the “criminals-are-the-victims” claim, that substance-free broadside against criminal justice reform does not describe any actual policy of the police, prosecutors or courts in L.A.
Addressing Public Safety
Crime in Los Angeles is real, it hurts people and the community, and it is a problem that requires constant vigilance. Just as critics of needed justice reforms are often off-target, so are those who argue that there is no crime, we don’t need police and everything’s fine.
The last several weeks have seen reports of astonishing crimes, including a woman apparently disturbed by the impending solar eclipse who police say stabbed her boyfriend and threw her children from her car onto the freeway; a $30-million Easter Sunday cash heist; and freeway jewelry robberies linked to South American SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis
1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?
2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?
3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?
Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls | – Number of reported cases of violence against women – Number of convictions for violent crimes against women |
| SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions | 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere | – Number of reported violent crimes – Number of arrests and convictions for violent crimes – Perception of public safety and trust in the criminal justice system |
Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.
Source: latimes.com
Join us, as fellow seekers of change, on a transformative journey at https://sdgtalks.ai/welcome, where you can become a member and actively contribute to shaping a brighter future.
