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TreeEleben t1_j5ov220 wrote

Reply to comment by Nintom64 in New Haven Board of Ed. security officer fires gun at teen who was breaking into his car: PD by EasyE0287

You're absolutely right, but the fact that these kids know they won't be prosecuted is also part of the cause. Of course poor kids are going to go out robbing cars, high reward, effectively zero risk. It's frustrating when the police can't do anything to stop the robberies, and if a citizen tries to stop it, the police arrest them and lock them up, while the theives get let go immediately.

Poverty isn't going away, it's just increasing. The state needs to get this under control before it gets worse. Kids are already shooting at people who spot them. Someone is going to end up dead.

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EvidentlyEmpirical t1_j5py5x0 wrote

I feel the need to preface this by saying I'm not advocating for this, I'm predicting it will happen. This is not an endorsement of violence, it's a suspicion that violence will occur due to the circumstances that are part of the conversation.

There, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, what you're describing sounds like a recipe for vigilantism. Someone is going to get the bright idea to be Batman and come in with some friends to beat the crap out of the thieves... and this cannot end well.

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Nintom64 t1_j5p4cz0 wrote

That is incorrect. No kid is thinking “hmm I can’t wait to steal stuff because the state won’t punish me for it!” The consequences of the crime isn’t even a thought in their head. Again address the root cause. Poverty. We can fix this issue by addressing what leads people to commit petty crime.

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DerpolIus t1_j5qj9s7 wrote

Ok. How? How do we address poverty? And what do we do in the meantime while it’s being addressed? What do we say to the people who have to live this reality every day? That their solution is a decade out and they just have to suck it up until then? It’s a noble idea and one that we should be working towards now, but it does nothing to help people in a timely manner.

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