Victims Are Often Criminals, and That Is a Paradox American Policing Can’t Solve
7th August 2019
On January 2 of this year, the Baltimore Police Department sent out its annual analysis of the city’s homicides: in 2018, there were 309. The majority of the victims were killed in the street and almost sixty percent died from a gunshot wound to the head. Ninety-four percent were black men.
The analysis also included data on the criminal records of the victims. The vast majority of homicide victims had been arrested before. One in four were either on parole or probation when they died.
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In May 2013, Carlos Wheeler shot a young black man named Ronnie Thomas III, who got hit in the leg but survived. In April 2014, Thomas III was arrested for shooting at someone. In June 2015, Thomas III was shot and killed. The following month, Carlos Wheeler’s brother, Nathanial, was shot and killed — in retaliation for Carlos shooting at Thomas III back in 2013, prosecutors said.
Skinny Suge, who produced Stop Fucking Snitching, is legally named Ronnie Thomas — Ronnie Thomas III was his son. Addressing Baltimore’s epidemic of violence means reaching Baltimoreans like the Thomases. Police might not be the best people for that job.