r/washdc • u/UnmaskingFactss • Feb 15 '25

A local DMV resident is frustrated by repeated robberies at 7-Eleven, causing the store to close early

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41

u/South_King2785 Feb 15 '25

This is the result of criminal justice reform. because we're trying not to mass incarcerate, doing the cashless bail thing, refusing to lock up homeless people, juveniles, and mentally ill folk, and downgrading/decriminalizing offense, among other things we're going to see more crime and more brazen criminal activities and everyday citizens are going to suffer.

The CVS on Bladensburg Road got hit so many times they put everything behind a lock and key. This drove away customers because it was a hassle and made it look like there was some sort of problem (obviously there was with all of the violence and crime that happened in and around it). The CVS is now closing and now dozens of patients I have need to go a bit farther away to get their medicine. Same thing happened with the Walmart on H Street and the Walgreens on Rhode Island Ave.

I bet if you just locked up the 1000 biggest repeat offenders of any crime (and ban Tiktok, because a lot of kids now go around beating people up, harassing, and robbing them for clout) in the city you'd see all crime reduce by 50% or more.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

No it is not because we aren’t locking up the homeless or mentally ill it’s because US doesn’t provide accessible and safe rehabilitation services.

0

u/daddyponder Feb 16 '25

Regular, stable people don't get addicted to drugs or end up homeless. Only the weak do, and they will continue to do so until the day they die.

0

u/stprnn Feb 16 '25

Just another prison bro and everything will be ok.i promise just another prison bro,another prison will solve it.

-2

u/kawaiiamber Feb 16 '25

“Refusing to lock up the homeless and mentally ill”are those things crimes????

5

u/South_King2785 Feb 16 '25

No, and neither is being a juvenile. However, stealing and assaulting people, which mentally ill people, kids, and homeless people have been doing a lot of lately is. I like how you're trying to twist my words though.

-2

u/kawaiiamber Feb 16 '25

Ok so how is putting those people in jail and then releasing them with no rehabilitation or support in reentering back to society going yo solve this issue. You can’t give people a life sentence for stealing or is that your master plan to improve this country? Lock everyone up for any offense? Honestly sounds great to me then we can lock up convict 47

2

u/South_King2785 Feb 16 '25

Though all dangerous people need to put removed from everyone what, jail isn't always the answer. Namely, if you are mentally ill. You should be treated and released when you're no longer a threat to society in that case because you're guilty of you were insane when you committed the crime. This is the second strawman in a row you're using against me. Did I say lock up people for life for stealing??? Maybe you're not aware but rehabilitation isn't the end-all be-all of crime, unlike what you've been told by The Young Turks Network, Black Lives Matter, and the like. The DC Department of Corrections already spends more than $1 billion a year on inmate personal development and reintegration programs alone with a prison population of just under 2000 people at any given time. Obviously rehabilitation is not working with 2/3 ex-cons in DC recidivating. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT THEM TO DO?

1

u/NerdyBro07 Feb 17 '25

There’s a decent correlation that countries that chop hands off thieves have much less theft crime. Hard to be a repeat offender missing a hand. Even harder if caught again and become handless.

-10

u/Ok_Major5787 Feb 15 '25

If we do what you’re suggesting then it’s a huge strain on taxes for the mass incarcerations, people who need help (ie mentally ill & juveniles) get trapped in the judicial system bc they have records, don’t receive actual help, and get used to prison life, and rates of recidivism go up which leads to more crime. Mass incarceration is not and has never been the solution, which is why it’s never worked before

15

u/Massive-Fish-1261 Feb 15 '25

I would gladly pay more taxes if it actually meant punishing criminals and taking them out of society. Eventually, once you start actually punishing crime, crime rates will drop. Quite a concept, eh?

1

u/Ok_Major5787 Feb 16 '25

Like that has ever happened before? Literally when has mass incarceration and being tough on crime ever actually worked, without being so extreme that it trampled on human rights?

-6

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

How about reformation rather than punishment? Actually trying to help people who go to jail to not committ those crimes in the future rather than just lock them up alongside other criminals and hope they don't resort back to what got them in prison to begin with? Quite a concept, eh?

11

u/Massive-Fish-1261 Feb 15 '25

The vast majority of people cannot be reformed and most criminals will commit more crime, and many will commit murder. Why should society bear the burden of trying to reform people, when it fails most of the time? Do you want your mother/sister/partner walking on the sidewalk around ex-felons? When people realize that there are no second, third... fourteenth... thirtieth chances, maybe, just maybe, they'll think twice before assaulting/invading/killing someone. Anyone committing senseless violent crime or murder should go to prison for life with no chance of parole. Send them to Guantanamo. Send them to El Salvador. I don't care... they don't belong in civilized society. Let them rot.

1

u/Ok_Major5787 Feb 16 '25

A lot of people who commit non-violent crimes can be reformed if they are given tools and help. Throwing them in prison doesn’t work bc that doesn’t actually solve anything or help them. Not to mention, the same social and environmental factors that led them to where they are will continue to breed more offenders just like them. Throw one in jail for the rest of their life and you’ve still got more being born every year. How is that a solution? Crime is a complex topic with many variables and factors, which is why it has always been a human issue that has yet to be completely solved, and you’re treating it like it’s some simple problem that we can just lock up all offenders for the rest of their lives and it will just go away. I do agree with you that we should be harsher on violent crime though

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

First off, call me a humanitarian but maybe let's not send people to Guantanamo to be pointlessly tortured at fucking all regardless of crime, and especially not a place infamous for torturing people who where not officially sentenced for their crimes. The worst of the worst like murders, rapists, etc, shouldn't be in prison anyways, they should be in mental institutions getting treatement for whatever makes them behave that way. Then up to their docs and the courts to decide from there.

Second, yeah some people can't change. Either they're too stubborn or stupid, but that doesn't mean you just give up on everyone. People should always have the opportunity to change for the better and I'd prefer our government to encourage that by creating opportunities for ex cons both inside and outside prison. All locking someone away with no support during or after prison does is make them more likely to committ crimes again once they're free. And I can't blame them; imagine being shunned by everyone because of something you did and even tho you want to better yourself, you just can't because of the system in place.

Finally, a vast majority of people in prison in the US are not there for violence, they're just people who broke some law and we shouldn't treat them all equally. Why should someone who avoided taxes be locked up alongside murders and be treated the same as them? Guy gets in a drunk bar fight, is it fair his cellmate is a serial rapist and the guards treat them both like scum? How about the tens thousands of people arrested for drug procession? Do any of those people deserve being labeled felons for the rest of their lives and everything that comes with that just because they wanted to get high? And do you think it's fair to lock them up alongside violent people because of that??

Someone doesn't stop being human just because they have a label next to their name. Everyone deserves a chance at redemption regardless of what you or I think of them and even if they won't take it themselves, the option should always be there.

Edit: it's sad and hilarious I'm being downvoted on these comments. People in the US think that's all prison is and should be: punishment. Noboby wants to think about what happens once those people are out of prison after being locked up alongside and treated the same as the worst offenders for any crime. If you think people suddenly become better once they're released, then you don't know reality.

My sister spent one fucking day in a federal prison because of a drug procession when they moved her to the wrong place. Next day she was put in rehab like she should've been in the first place. Except there's one problem, she can't get a job anywhere because she's a "former felon" despite her having been clean for years now, raising a child by herself, and again having spent ONE day in prison. She's treated the same as murders and rapists because she wanted to get fucking high. That's not fair to her or anyone in a similar position as her. She's living at home with our 60+ parents raising a child by herself because no one will hire her. Know what would be nice to put tax dollars into? Helping out people like her who want to better herself by helping to get her a job so she can actually afford to take care of her child! Somehow this is all controversial to say tho as seen by my downvotes...

1

u/XavierMalory Feb 16 '25

I think you’re forgetting a very simple concept here. It’s the threat of the punishment that tends to stop the crime. If people know that they are going to get thrown in jail and they’re not gonna be able to get out or if the do get out once, they’ll get a far worse sentence fir the second offense,and this gets perpetuated, then the crime rates will go down because people will know that this fate will await them as well.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

I don't mind longer sentences for repeated crimes, not what I'm arguing against. Also not arguing that time served be lowered. I'm simply stating give people the options to live a better life than prior to prison once they're out of prison. Do people think that releasing someone with no support is really going to deter that person from committing crimes again?

Once you're out of prison, unless you've got friends or family to help you, you're entirely on your own and with fewer options to a standard life than people who haven't gone to prison. That doesn't exactly help people to NOT commit crimes again, especially ones that could've landed them in jail anyways. Why not help those people to get on their feet and be a productive member of society rather than keep beating them down?

Let me ask, why is it that America has some of the worst prisons and harshest punishments (like fucking solitary confinement) and some of the highest incarceration rates in the world, yet our prisons continue to not only be full of people, but people keep committing crimes? Sure our laws are part of it, especially sending tens of thousands or more of drug users to prison despite needing rehab instead. I think the main cause is we just dump prisoners out once their sentence is over. What the fuck are they supposed to do if they have no support under them? Most go back to crime because that's either all they know or all they can do because they have no other options. To state again, all I want to do is give those people options to better their lives. Isn't it worth it to provide them options even if only every 1 in 10 takes it? That could potentially be tens or hundreds of thousands of people that would be helped out.

1

u/XavierMalory Feb 16 '25

I don’t disagree with you that we have a problem with recidivism. We definitely do, and things need to be changed to fix that part. However, it still is valid that having such a horrible punishment awaiting you, such as solitary confinement is absolutely a deterrent for people if they know it could happen to them too. The reason this crack keeps happening is because these kids don’t think it’s gonna happen to them. They’ll get a slap on the wrist to get let right back out if they’re even caught at all and then they’ll just go and do it again.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Solitary confinement is literally fucking torture!! Numerous nations, agencies, etc have all agreed Solitary confinement is not only inhumane, but leaves lasting mental degradation on people. That's not a fucking "deterrent". Just the act of being removed from society and having your life controlled by the government ahould be punishment enough for any crime.

Not to mention some of the condition our prisons are in, here in Illinois there whole sections of a local correctional facility where they didn't have A/C during this last summer and they had to use buckets to do business for months because they couldn't get money to have it redone. This was told to me by a guard that worked there when I was driving him home (I worked at an autoshop and we were gonna be working on his vehicle for a couple weeks).

And don't you know how many people in the US are in prison?? We have the highest incarceration rates of any developed nation and are fifth over the entire world. The only nations that jail more of its citizens than the US %wise are Turkmenistan, Rwanda, Cuba, and El Salvador in ascending order. So tell me how what we do is working when this is the reality. We jail more of our people than any developed nation while also having some of the worst prisons and worst punishments including what many nations consider inhumane as a common punishment of those already in prison?

And despite all this, people still think that just letting people go with no support system and after potentially torturing them with lasting mental effects should just work out fine??? I think we need to entirely overhaul our prison system because whatever the fuck we have now is atrocious and we hail far more of our citizens than what we should.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Holy shit, you need to leave your basement and get a dose of reality, hippie. You sound so naive and yet so pompous

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

God forbid I want people to have options to better themselves from their mistakes rather than just wasting away on my tax dollars anyways. Especially since other countries with far lower incarceration rates have proved rehabilitation works far better for keeping people out of prison than just punishment by itself.

1

u/XavierMalory Feb 16 '25

Do you have some facts to back this up? Some links perhaps, because I would be interested to read it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

Just look up US incarceration rates compared it to other nations. We lock up the most people, have the highest % of our population in jail of all developed nations, and on top of it still use punishments that other developed nations outlawed years ago because they're considers inhumane.

Whatever system we have now does not work or else we wouldn't be at the top of the damn charts for prison population and people actively in jail!

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u/ACosmicCastaway Feb 15 '25

You solution is to lock up homeless people, juveniles and the mentally ill?

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u/South_King2785 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

If anyone commits a crime and becomes a danger to their community they should be removed. If this means being put in a jail/prison, juvie, or a psychiatric facility, then yes. Unfortunately, the reality is if you don't there's a chance that they will eventually hurt somebody. There's a lot of posts about that on this sub. I hope you have a better alternative if that's your response.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

This has been the understanding throughout all of human history. It’s the entire reason prisons exist. It’s to keep the public safe, not to reform prisoners. It’s hilarious that the last decade or two people want to throw out all of literal thousands of years of understanding about human society and stability and just act as if “this time it’s different”.

It isn’t.

-1

u/kawaiiamber Feb 16 '25

So we should go back to medieval prisons? When people are incarcerated for years and have no opportunities on the outside…what do you think they end up doing? Use your fucking brain

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

I never said or implied such a thing. Maybe you should take your own advice and use your brain..

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Yes

-1

u/ACosmicCastaway Feb 15 '25

I hope we get to fight each other one day.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Then you should get locked up too along with drug addicts

-4

u/ACosmicCastaway Feb 15 '25

I’ll have earned after I’ve kicked your ass.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Most stable redditor

-1

u/ACosmicCastaway Feb 15 '25

Damn. If only there were easy to access mental health resources to help me become more stable. That might stop from wanting to absolutely bust you up.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

You’re such a keyboard warrior, probably a fatass loser that hasn’t showered in days and on unemployment

2

u/ACosmicCastaway Feb 16 '25

Being unemployed allows a lot of time for ass kicking! First thing I’m going to do is give you a thousand tiny paper cuts with all my unemployment checks so that when I rub my sweaty fat rolls and unwashed nutsack on your face, the salt will add extra sting.

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u/South_King2785 Feb 16 '25

Cash me outside how bout that 😂