Tuesday’s murder of Jamal Coates and the spate of murders and gun crimes over the last six months draws attention to the need to make illegal gun possession by a felon a crime that will bring a mandatory sentence. The Virginia Exile program provides a good model for DC to follow.

The Virginia program imposes the following penalties (from http://www.suffolk.va.us/cwatty/vaxylp.html)

Just like our slogan states, "It's Simple�You Do the Math!" Under Exile legislation, anyone faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five (5) years in a Virginia prison who: [More]

The alleged murderer of Tanganika Stanton was acquitted on Tuesday for the September 2008 murder. This murder is referred to as the "Hamburger Murder" because Tanganika refused to make a hamburger for a male who approached her. However, it is also reported that she refused to give him her phone number. This is not about a hamburger, it is about a sexual advance turned down. In 2004, in Northeast, just a few blocks from where I live, Myesha Lowe was killed. Allegedly, the killer had returned, as in Tanganika's case, after a sexual advance was refused. [More]

While there are no simple solutions to stop violence, such as the multiple murders that were committed in southwest Washington last Tuesday, we can take concrete steps to create an environment that will make it less likely to happen. One important factor is to find out why youth in the juvenile detention system that have repeated offenses are not properly detained to prevent recurrences of violent behavior. [More]