A city beset by crime needs tough tactics
Douglas Colbert is surprised more officials are not deeply moved by the fact that arrested people who can't make bail are left incarcerated until trial ("Baltimore's pretrial injustice," Opinion
Commentary, Jan. 6). He proposes that nonviolent offenders be immediately released and put under "supervised detention."
I recommend that Mr. Colbert talk to some law-abiding Baltimoreans who live in distressed neighborhoods in addition to the detainees awaiting trial. He would quickly discover we are sick and tired of criminals getting off easy for so-called "nonviolent" crimes.
We have a revolving-door justice system, and Mr. Colbert's proposal would only speed up the revolving door.
Anyone who lives in the city knows drug dealers and other criminals do business on our streets with impunity for a very long time before getting arrested. When they finally are arrested, it feels like a blessing. If they are gone for more than a week, it is a godsend.
If Baltimore were not so besieged with crime, perhaps city residents would have more compassion for the plight of those arrested.
But sadly, the way things are now, Mr. Colbert's proposal amounts to nothing more than yet another way to reinforce the rights of offenders while eroding the peace and good-will of law-abiding citizens.
Angelo Trivelli
Baltimore
I am certain much of what Douglas Colbert says is accurate. Many of the city's poor are being warehoused in jails. They are kept in what might seem to be deplorable conditions.
Mr. Colbert's suggestion is to "put into practice" the state policy that would guarantee liberty to some of the people arrested for "minor crimes."
Ten years ago, I would have applauded the professor's argument. But I am a bit more hesitant to do so now.
While I agree that the jails are overcrowded, I do not blame the "escalating arrest policy" of our police officers.
The fact is that our city is beset by crime. The citizenry demands an effective and efficient policy of dealing with crime - any crime that severely impacts our quality of life, including crimes Mr. Colbert would call "minor" - i.e. public urination, prostitution, petty theft.
What strikes me about Mr. Colbert's position, and those of others who defend those caught in the criminal justice system, is that I never hear a call to the criminals to stop committing crimes.
But freedom is a privilege. Liberty is a privilege. Those who behave in a manner that threatens the well-being of society as a whole run the risk of losing their freedom.
Those who commit crimes - of whatever seriousness - need to take stock of their actions, not cry foul when they end up in jail.
And their defenders need to realize that ordinary citizens are weary of living in a city in which safety is at a premium.
Haydee M. Rodriguez
Baltimore
Jail warehouses the city's poor
I spent Christmas Eve in jail. I am not a criminal defendant but a third-year student at the University of Maryland School of Law. And, as part of a study for the Baltimore Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, I interviewed 30 men in the city's pretrial jails.
Everything that I observed that day leads me to this conclusion: The bail system has become punitive and functions solely to incarcerate people rather than regulate behavior.
People are spending up to 100 days in jail without ever being convicted of a crime. Their only offense is being too poor to afford bails as low as $35.
These people are not violent offenders, and most have lived in Baltimore their entire lives. They pose no risk of flight and are no danger to the community. They are the community.
They are almost exclusively incarcerated for misdemeanor drug violations. Their failure is our failure, and our response is our shame.
Baltimore can no longer warehouse its problems at the city jail.
Kathryn Insley
Baltimore
People of character build a great city
In the eyes of famed attorney Johnnie Cochran, Baltimore is a place whose government and citizens must accept as reality that up is down and right is wrong.
According to the Jan. 8 Sun, Mr. Cochran is threatening to sue the city, claiming that the city bears some responsibility for the tragic deaths of seven members of the Dawson family who perished as victims, allegedly, of a drug dealer's retaliatory firebomb ("Anti-drug campaign blamed in Dawson arson deaths").
Part of the planned lawsuit's claim will be that the "Believe" campaign caused the Dawson family to put itself in danger by reporting drug dealers to police. Mr. Cochran is apparently reasoning that the Dawsons were victims not of a cowardly criminal act, but of a reckless ad campaign.
While displaying Mr. Cochran's trademark cleverness, this claim dishonors the memory of the Dawsons by implying that their attempt to rid the neighborhood of drug dealers was simply a blind reaction to a slogan rather than an act of tremendous bravery.
And does Mr. Cochran really want us to live in a world where governments incur liability by exhorting citizens to do the right thing?
Mr. Cochran's convoluted legal claims only serve to reinforce a compelling truth: There is a big difference between being clever and being smart.
Great cities and regions are built by people of character, not by those who are merely clever and opportunistic.
Baltimore
The writer is president of the Greater Baltimore Committee.
City didn't do enough to help the Dawsons
I read with interest the Jan. 10 letters regarding Johnnie Cochran's plan to represent relatives of the Dawson family in a lawsuit against the city of Baltimore ("Suing the city would diminish Dawsons' legacy"). I applaud Mr. Cochran and think the writers missed the point.
If the city can spend millions for radio, television, newsprint and billboard ads asking us to "Believe," why couldn't it pay for police officers to take the necessary precautions to protect the Dawsons?
If the city could afford to put police cars outside the Dawson family's house after they were killed, why couldn't it afford to do so before they were killed?
The high-priced, eye-catching "Believe" ads sound and look good. But they fall to provide real solutions to the city's deadly problems.
They tell us to have faith in our city, but even the Bible tells us that faith without works is of little use.
The Dawson family had faith that their calls to the Police Department would make a difference. They had faith that their attendance at community meetings would create change in their neighborhood.
The problem is that the Police Department, other city officials and even some of the Dawsons' neighbors did not show faith in them - the loss of their lives is evidence of that.
Lynn Pinder
Baltimore
Nothing 'brilliant' about TV violence
Sun television critic David Zurawik described the first episode of "The Shield" as "intense," "brilliant" and "exceptional television" ("Intense? You want intense? Then watch 'The Shield,'" Jan. 7).
He also described the violence of the opening episodes: lingering camera images of men being burned alive screaming in agony and descriptions of rape followed by branding.
Mr. Zurawik writes that "such violence has a place on television," that television is "part of the process through which we as a society construct our notion of social reality" and "violence is at the core of the American experience."
Baltimore is among the most violent cities in America. With what conscience does The Sun publish a review that promotes violence in the media by calling it "brilliant"?
And how can anyone condone such violent television in a city with such a high murder rate and an even higher assault rate?
Television does much more than just construct an image of social reality. It can be informative about our society; it can also be subtle propaganda. It shapes the mind and soul; it dulls the senses to the awful reality of violence.
And haven't we in this city had to fight the dulling of our senses caused by murder after murder?
The Shield portrays bad cops and graphic violence on a huge scale. It is certainly not what Baltimore needs and it is not anything that a critic of The Sun should be calling "exceptional."
Let's instead call it what it really is: the display of violence in the hope of getting good TV ratings.
Richard E. Cramblitt
Baltimore
Nurses are more than doctors' aides
Reginald Fields' article "A doctor's office rolls out" (Jan. 4) commendably highlights a St. Joseph's Hospital mobile health program that provides care to the homeless. Unfortunately, some parts of the article reflect a misunderstanding and under-valuation of the role nurses play in health care.
The story revolves around Bill Gough, the nurse practitioner who manages the program. Mr. Gough is evidently the primary care provider of the patient he is shown examining in photos accompanying the article. Nevertheless, the article describes the clinic as a "doctor's office" and claims the homeless patient "could use a physician's touch."
More accurate terms might be "health care clinic" and "health care provider."
The article also implies nurse practitioners lack expertise because they consult with physicians. Yet the author does not similarly suggest that a clinic physician lacks expertise when he consults other providers, as any competent professional would do when treating patients whose illnesses fall outside the scope of his or her practice.
Nursing and medicine are overlapping professions, but nursing is not a sub-specialty or junior version of medicine. Nurse practitioners typically have master's degrees requiring two or more years of graduate training - in nursing.
Until the media increase their awareness of the important role nurses play in health care and act accordingly, the public will continue to undervalue nursing as a career choice, and the current critical nursing shortage will only get worse.
Sandy Summers
Richard Kimball
Baltimore
The writers are, respectively, the director and associate director of the Center for Nursing Advocacy.
Creating incentives for quality care
I commend Dr. William R. Brody for his vision of incorporating quality incentives into the Health Services Cost Review Commission's (HSCRC) rate-setting system, and thank him for expressing the need to move further in this direction ("A new vision for Md. hospitals," Opinion*Commentary, Dec. 10).
The commission is like-minded and has made some progress in providing incentives for hospitals to maintain and improve quality. But we agree with Dr. Brody that there is much yet to be done, and we have an action plan to achieve this goal called the Hospital Quality Initiative.
As part of a review of rate-setting that began last fall, the commission directed its staff to develop a mechanism for evaluating and rewarding hospital performance on the basis of quality. The approach the commission discussed would create financial incentives for hospitals to perform well on a quality index.
It will take some time to develop the most appropriate quality indicators, and we hope to draw on the expertise of the Maryland Hospital Association, which has long been a leader in analyzing health care quality indicators for hospitals, and of the Medicare system, which has proposed similar quality initiatives.
We also plan to include patient safety in the initiative, in cooperation with the Maryland Health Care Commission, which recently issued a report outlining recommendations for developing a patient safety system in Maryland.
And, of course, in an era in which we are seeing dramatic increases in health care costs and insurance premiums, we must ensure that hospitals remain cost-effective in providing high-quality health care.
Don S. Hillier
Baltimore
The writer chairs the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission.
Palestinians reap what they've sown
The Palestinians do not deserve sympathy and have lost all credibility ("Disrupting the flow of food," letters, Jan. 11).
They urge their children to strap on bombs and to blow up innocent Israeli men, women and children. Their parents make these murderers into martyrs and praise them for murdering Israeli children. Rich Arabs reward the families of these murderers with tens of thousands of dollars.
The Palestinians do not just want an independent state next to Israel. They want control of all of Israel as well, and have never wavered from this position.
Before 1967, the Palestinians would blow up Israelis and affirm their commitment to the destruction of Israel. After 1967, some Arab propagandist thought up the lie that the core of the conflict was the Israeli presence in the West Bank. But if Israel gave up all of that area today, the Palestinians would be back blowing up Israelis and reaffirming their commitment to the destruction of Israel tomorrow - just as they did when Jordan controlled the area.
The Palestinians have always had it in their power to make peace but have rebuffed all attempts to do so. The Israelis have always had it in their power to destroy the Palestinians and yet they have chosen to try to make peace.
The Palestinian marketplaces and hospitals are open. There is food. There is water. There is medicine.
By any standard, Israel's handling of the Palestinians has been reasonable. Under the circumstances, it might be considered generous.
The Palestinians have made their choices and gotten what they deserve.
Gary J. Kaplowitz
Pikesville
No need to attack Iraq to keep the oil flowing
The Sun's editorial "An oil change" (Jan 12) implies that one major U.S. motive for a war against Iraq is to maintain access to Persian Gulf oil, especially Saudi Arabian oil.
But since the end of the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s, the West has had practically unlimited access to Persian Gulf oil. Since the 1970s we have faced no shortages, no supply interruptions and no lines at gas stations.
Indeed, OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, has had in place for several years a price-production mechanism that has worked remarkably well not only to produce enough oil to meet demand but also to maintain a "reasonable" price.
The oil-producing countries learned from the failure of their earlier embargo that they need buyers for their oil. They can't drink it; they need the cash flow oil produces. Thus a buyer with money (especially U.S. dollars) will get oil regardless of who owns or controls it.
The Bush administration's motives for preparing to attack Iraq are extremely nebulous indeed. But to attack Iraq to maintain the flow of oil - which has been and will continue flowing anyway - would make no sense at all.
Frank Smor
Baltimore
Pursue the dream Dr. King inspired
On Monday, the nation will again celebrate the life and accomplishments of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And I will also honor the legacy of Dr. King in my own personal way.
Dr. King truly was a man of God. He submitted himself to the will of God to heal a racially divided America. And along with many other dedicated Americans, Dr. King sacrificed his life so that future generations could learn to live in peace and harmony.
I was 10 years old when Dr. King was assassinated. I lived in the little town of Piedmont, W.Va., 20 miles south of Cumberland. I vividly recall seeing the women in my family sobbing hysterically after he was killed; it was such an emotional time.
Dr. King's death changed my life forever because it made me realize, even as a young child, that the responsibility of challenging the status quo was a task to be embraced by all Americans, but especially by African-Americans.
The King holiday is not a day to stay at home, go to the mall or sleep. It is a day to honor a great American. We can honor his legacy by teaching our children about the man and his philosophies on nonviolence, passive resistance and faith in God.
I have a dream that our society will continually embrace and implement Dr. King's dream.
Leontyne Peck
Cumberland