I RECENTLY directed the U.S. attorney's office to increase its prosecutions of felons in possession of a weapon by focusing on 14 targeted areas in Baltimore City that are plagued by gun violence. But to make a meaningful impact on the safety of the community, we must embrace a more comprehensive approach beyond this increased prosecution effort.
The reality is that everyday gun violence experienced by many Baltimore neighborhoods is fed by a local crisis arising from devastated communities of families living in poverty, inadequate health care, substance abuse, poor educational attainment and poor employment opportunities.
Until this devastation is addressed by city officials, community leaders and Baltimore's residents, gun crimes in the city will proliferate despite aggressive violent-crime prosecution efforts by federal prosecutors.
Reducing crime by making Baltimore's families and communities stronger is a formidable task. It must begin by tackling the hardships faced by children born in the city.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which studies the well-being of children across America, compared difficulties that children faced in 50 of the largest U.S. cities. The foundation's findings in a 1999 report are deeply troubling.
Baltimore was at or near the bottom of the rankings.
The study found that 22.4 percent of the total births in Baltimore are to teens (50th out of 50 cities); 69.4 percent of the total births are to unwed mothers (50th out of 50 cities); 14.7 percent of babies have low birth weights (less than 5.5 pounds) (Baltimore and Detroit tied for 49th); 24.6 percent of teen births are to women and girls who are already mothers (31st out of 50 cities); 31.6 percent of total births are to mothers with less than 12 years of education (34th out of 50 cities); 6.8 percent of total births are to mothers receiving late or no prenatal care (37th out of 50 cities); and 18.6 percent of pre-term births occur in Baltimore (49th out of 50 cities).
For people over age 25, only 52.6 percent in Baltimore are high school graduates or above. In other words, nearly half of all Baltimore residents do not have a high school education. Only 15.6 percent hold bachelor's degrees or higher. By contrast, in Baltimore County, 66.3 percent of residents age 25 or over have a high school degree or better, and 25.1 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher, according to a Towson University report.
Given the poverty faced by Baltimore's children and accompanying issues associated with poverty - inadequate health care, weakened family structures, etc. - it should be no surprise that a disproportionate share of the city's residents end up in the criminal justice system.
About half of all people incarcerated in Maryland are incarcerated in Baltimore. Eighty-five percent of them report a drug abuse problem. In 1999, there were 17,837 arrests in connection with drug violations in Baltimore.
The nation's economy increasingly demands a work force with skills that will enable it to carry out complex tasks. But the data suggest that Baltimore's residents will be unable to meet the level of training and skill required by today's employers.
The top employment-gaining industries require an educated work force. Unfortunately, the demographic profile of Baltimore suggests that the majority of Baltimore's applicants are not qualified to fill the largest number of jobs created by growing industries or to get jobs in industries in which salaries are high. Indeed, the data show that jobs in industries leaving Baltimore are the jobs for which unskilled labor may be the most qualified.
Increased federal prosecution of cases of a felon in possession of a weapon do not and cannot address the source of the problem for this city. The uncomfortable truth is that the reason that Baltimore was recently ranked the second-most-dangerous city in the country was not a failure of federal prosecutors to prosecute enough of those felon cases.
The real reason is the lack of economic opportunity and the existence of community conditions that foster and encourage crime. Federal prosecutors cannot create good schools, meaningful jobs or fathers and mothers who take responsibility for themselves and their children.
We will do our job. We will continue our intense prosecution effort, and we will have a significant and meaningful impact on gun violence in Baltimore. We will continue to dismantle violent drug organizations, prosecute individuals who use a firearm to commit a violent crime and convicted felons who possess a firearm. Simply put, the bad guys in Baltimore are going to be indicted, convicted and sentenced to long terms in federal prison.
But innovative and aggressive federal violent crime prosecutions are not enough.
We must develop and implement comprehensive policies and practices to create positive change throughout Baltimore. The responsibility for this is with city officials, community leaders and Baltimore's residents. Everyone has the obligation to confront the difficult economic and social conditions facing Baltimore and the real issues that foster crime here.
Although this challenge necessarily means social and economic visions that look beyond the next election cycle and shallow political gimmicks, the city's future depends upon courageous and insightful leadership.
Thomas M. DiBiagio is the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland.