Crime in Philly: How much is too much?

Can I just say that crime is out of control in the city of Philadelphia? This may not come as any big surprise to anyone considering over 140 gun homicides already this year, but beyond those grim statistics there's also the day-to-day violence that eats away at our quality of life and sense of security with numbing regularity. How many of us have not been touched by this epidemic of violence? My guess would be very few.

In the past six months, two friends of mine have been assaulted on the streets of Fishtown. One was beaten by three young males who jumped out of their car and brutalized him for no reason other than random, crazed violence. Another was a young woman in her twenties who was mugged and had her purse stolen by another trio of males who also jumped out of a car. In that case, happily and quite amazingly, she happened to see those same young men in a Center City location many days later and called the police who apprehended them. An outcome like that, however, is obviously all too rare.

Perhaps the most egregious incident happened just days ago at a well known tavern in Northern Liberties, an area that is supposedly "safe" these days. Two young men were asked to leave the premises at closing and proceeded to pummel an employee around the face and head, giving him two black eyes. One waitress was knocked unconscious and a cook was stabbed with a throwing dart in the ear and neck.

The circumstances surrounding the arrival of the police and the resulting release of the assailants are murky, but the fact is that these two brutal thugs are still walking our streets as free men. Word is that all the employees were too intimidated to press charges and the police therefore allowed the men to go, not even bothering to verify their identities.

That said, I don't wish to be too harsh on the police. This city is severely under-policed for the size of the population, the prosecutor’s office is overwhelmed, and the intimidation of witnesses and the lack of protection from them is well documented.

There are currently 2 million people in prisons in the United States -- up from 200,000 thirty years ago -- and about 100,000 are being released into the general population every year. Since the 80's, when rehabilitation took a backseat to retribution we've incacreated countless non-violent offenders, criminals have only become more violent and recidivist. In the years to come we’re all likely to run into some of these people and rest assured there will be those wanting to take out their punishment on us. They haven't been rehabilitated, merely "processed."

We’d better think about hiring some more police and start working on finding more room in prison for the truly violent offender. We haven’t the luxury of imprisoning the non-violent drug offender any more.