Drugs And Crime

IN A SERIES of news stories about teen-age criminals sentenced to a crucible boot camp, Sun reporter Todd Richissin found that the boys were not only pummeled and pounded while in custody, but they also returned to drugs and crime almost as soon as they were released.The boys, ages 14 to 17, arrived at the Savage Leadership Challenge camp in Garrett County in handcuffs and shackles and were dragged off the bus, slammed, pounded and thrown to the ground in a smorgasbord of physical abuse that was described by Richissin and documented by Sun photographer Andre Chung.

What was once monochrome now comes in Kodachrome. But first, some background: Mayor Martin O'Malley introduced his "Believe" campaign in spring 2002 to combat the scourges of drugs and crime in the city. At the time, no one thought to believe in the Orioles. The team was en route to a dismal 67-95 season and seemed beyond hope. But drugs and crime -- now that's something we can overcome! The campaign's stark black-and-white signs blanketed the city, turning up on buildings and car bumpers, on buttons, T-shirts and billboards.

A new drug court making its debut in the Glen Burnie District courthouse is an alternative to the 1980s' lock-them-up style of fighting drugs and crime that has taken root across the country.First tested in Miami eight years ago as an experiment with drug-abusing first offenders, drug courts have spread to about 30 other cities.Prosecutors and treatment specialists tout them as the best way to halt drug abuse, which has led to increased crime in metropolitan areas and overburdened jails and prisons.

The news last week about a significant increase in illicit dru use by teen-agers caught a lot of us by surprise; surprise because such news represents a striking reversal of the downward trend seen over the last several years.But there it was, the bad news revealed in an annual nationwide survey of almost 50,000 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades: "Illicit drug use by teen-agers increased significantly between 1992 and 1993, driven by a dramatic rise in the use of marijuana and increases in the use of stimulants, LSD and inhalants."

Domestic violence is crimeWhy is it called a crime when it happens outside the home, and domestic violence when it happens inside the home?Why is it called domestic violence? Violence is violence.Makes no difference if you're a man, woman or child. Murder is murder. Beating someone is beating someone. One human, beating another. It's a crime and only a crime.If I were to go outside and someone would beat on me, he or she would be prosecuted. And vice versa. It would be considered a crime.

Causes of crimeHistory has shown us that punishment does not deter crime. Singapore has a low crime rate because its economy is comparatively healthy and its people are relatively prosperous.Its harsh penal system and torture of prisoners with brine-soaked rattan canes is brutal and reprehensible.Our economy is not healthy; we have no safety nets; one quarter of our children grow up in poverty. We have no affordable day care, health care or education opportunities that exist in so many other nations.

Not so long ago, Needra Bland lived for her "dope 'n' coke," and to pay for those heroin-and-cocaine cocktails she would shoplift meat or cash stolen checks, sell drugs or sell herself. Pennsylvania and Gold was her drug corner of choice; she flopped in stash houses while others reared her kids.Now drug-free, she is reacquainted with her two children and living in a midtown Baltimore apartment. She's a member of the Baltimore drug court's first graduating class, and hers is just the kind of turnaround officials envisioned when they devised a program offering drug treatment to addicted, petty criminals.

Don't abandon parole reform The Sun's editorials on Maryland's Break the Cycle program may lead readers to the unfortunate conclusion that the state's efforts are a failure ("Crime and no punishment," Nov. 19 and "Lieutenant governor hijacks probation," Nov. 20). On the contrary, Break the Cycle is a first step to Maryland's leading the nation out of the costly morass of drugs and crime. Like every state, Maryland has a considerable drug abuse problem among its criminal population. Entrenched drug problems among criminals are not easily resolved.

In a small cubicle in a computer lab on the top floor of the Stanton Community Center in Annapolis, Vern Wallace sits at a desk with a microphone, a set of headphones and two five-disc CD players to broadcast a live radio show three times a week. The community station on which he broadcasts - Radio Clay Street 1600 AM - has only a quarter-mile range and uses 0.1 watts. But the station's operators see it as an opportunity to deliver a motivational message to the troubled Clay Street neighborhood of Annapolis and encourage residents to stay away from drugs and gangs.

In a small cubicle in a computer lab on the top floor of the Stanton Community Center in Annapolis, Vern Wallace sits at a desk with a microphone, a set of headphones and two five-disc CD players to broadcast a live radio show three times a week. The community station on which he broadcasts - Radio Clay Street 1600 AM - has only a quarter-mile range and uses 0.1 watts. But the station's operators see it as an opportunity to deliver a motivational message to the troubled Clay Street neighborhood of Annapolis and encourage residents to stay away from drugs and gangs.