Baltimore passed a bitter threshold in July, as the number of youth homicide victims surpassed last year?s total in seven months.
With the death of 11-year-old Irvin Harris, for which police have charged child sex offender Melvin Jones Jr., the city experienced its 16th juvenile homicide this year, three more than the 13 juvenile homicides in 2005. The increase in deaths among the city?s youth caused emotional reactions from city leaders on Thursday.
“This is a tragedy for the city. Any time you lose a youngster, it hurts,” said City Council Member Kenneth Harris, D-4th District. “They?re cut down before they can bloom.”
Harris said the city needs to put more money into recreation centers.
“We as city leaders have to look at ways to create a safe haven for kids,” Harris said, citing the $9 million recently approved by the City Council for improving city recreation facilities as one example.
Among the dead are two 1-year-olds and 4-year-old Ja?Niya Williams, who was allegedly raped and killed by her 15-year-old cousin and baby sitter, Ronald Hinton. Except for one, all of the victims are black.
Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the increase in youth homicide is a community tragedy.
“We all must be alarmed. All of these children are our children. We must feel connected to every death and get involved,” he said.
Baltimore police spokesman Donny Moses said the department would continue to implement programs to address the rise in violence.
“We?re going to keep pursuing initiativesthat help control the number of juveniles on the streets after hours,” he said.
But Harris said solving the problem requires more than policing.
“This is a matter of parental responsibility,” he said. “We need to solve this problem as a community ? working with parents and reaching out to our youth,” he said.
