QOTD

Jason Williams:

Councilman Jason Williams, who chairs the Criminal Justice Committee, said in a statement announcing Wednesday’s meeting that there has been “an increasing amount of reactionary comments and decisions based upon a belief that juvenile crime is on the rise.” Police data doesn’t back the perceived trend, he said, and more information and discussion is needed ahead of “crafting new policies or clinging to old ones.”

“The premise of juvenile intervention must not be based on a single bad news cycle,” Williams said.

He's talking here a little bit about LaToya Cantrell's "reactionary" curfew enforcement policy. He could just as well extend that to her administration's embrace of invasive surveillance and predictive policing.  Or he could talk about her punitive.. almost vengeful.. approach to traffic enforcement. And for that matter he could comment on his colleagues' imposition of absurd fines for parking violations and minor breaches of bicycle etiquette.  Generally speaking, this supposedly "progressive" mayor and council have been remarkable in their enthusiasm for aggressive "reactionary" police practices.

None of them have been quite as boorish as Leon Cannizzaro, of course.

Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, who declared juvenile crime “out of control” in April, has participated in recent summits with city leaders to arrive at solutions. In a statement Tuesday, he commended Cantrell, the council and court officials for their efforts yet called for holistic efforts as well as “meaningful consequences” for violent youth criminals and parents who don’t supervise them.

“While some continue to advocate for coddling juvenile offenders at all costs, others are recognizing the very real trauma their violent acts are inflicting upon our community and are realistic about the need to restore accountability into our juvenile justice system,” Cannizzaro said in a statement.

The children will not be "coddled."

Anyway, Leon is up for reelection next year. Williams is one expected challenger but, as we've seen this week, there are better models out there to emulate. City Council is holding a hearing this afternoon about juvenile criminal justice policy.  Maybe they'll have something new to say there.