The 'Crime Emergency' That Never Goes Away

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This is maddening. The tough issues that produce these outbreaks of violence aren't mysteries. What's missing is the will to tackle them.

Back in 1995 U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton was a D.C. Superior Court judge who handled juvenile cases. He pointed to the demographics of crime and said: "When you couple that with bad parenting, bad neighborhoods and the easy accessibility of guns, all of that fuels the problems that we see coming." Walton said that in many cases fathers have disappeared, leaving children to be raised by young mothers who themselves are struggling with mental or emotional problems, limited education, poverty and addiction. That was 11 years ago.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when Eric H. Holder Jr., who has served as deputy U.S. attorney general, D.C. Superior Court judge and U.S. attorney for the District, commented on the new crime task force to tackle the current emergency: "It's not a coincidence that you see the largest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction. Those problems tend to breed crime."

That, of course, is what Ramsey and anyone who works with the problem will tell you: The tough issues at hand are in those areas where deficiencies are the greatest: education, families, poverty, substance abuse.

And yet we heavy up police action while tolerating dilapidated schools, high dropout rates and bad teaching. We know from D.C. Action for Children that about 80 percent of all reported child neglect and abuse cases involve parental substance abuse, yet we shortchange the child welfare agency and substance-abuse treatment programs that are supposed to help troubled families and caregivers.

Putting the emotional and physical well-being of troubled children, youth and struggling families ahead of downtown interests is a good way for the city to begin taking a bite out of crime. But that calls for a mayor and city council with the right priorities instead of an eye for the cameras.

See you at the polls.

kingc@washpost.com

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