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crime

Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash
women forming heart gestures during daytime

Here’s another positive trend in America that you probably won’t hear on your local TV news, where if it bleeds, it leads. A new report based on FBI data found that violent crime among those ages 17 and under dropped 78% from 1994 to 2020.

The study found a big drop in youth violent crime in 2020 and although some of that can be attributed to the pandemic, violent crime rates were already trending in that direction.

“In 2020, there were an estimated 424,300 arrests involving persons younger than 18—38% fewer than the number of arrests in 2019, and half the number of arrests 5 years earlier,” according to the study. “Less than 1 in 10 (8%) of these arrests were for a violent crime.”

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via Shansdeya / Instagram

A London woman's incredible instincts and bravery helped save a young girl from being abducted on Tuesday morning. Now, we have a face to connect with the heroic act.

Ashanti, who goes by the name @shansdeya on Twitter, says her little sister, Zian, alerted her to the abduction saying "something was not right."

So Ashanti walked outside in the residential area of Mitcham in south-west London. Where she saw a man walking suspiciously with a young girl.

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via London & UK Crime / Twitter

A London woman's incredible instincts and bravery helped save a young girl from being abducted Tuesday morning. The unknown woman was walking in a residential area in Mitcham when she noticed a man behaving strangely and holding a young girl with his hand over her mouth.

In the video, the woman paces the man, demands that he "Let her go" and asks "What are you doing with her?" The man replies "This is my sister, this is man's family."

However, instead of believing the man, she trusted her instincts and kept up her pursuit.

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Judge Carlos Moore has a unique approach to the justice system in which he serves—one that many people find refreshing.

Moore is a municipal judge and attorney in Mississippi. He's also the President-elect of the National Bar Association and is listed as a "Rising Star" in African-American Leadership Magazine's 2020 Top 100 Influential African-American Leaders list. In 2017, he made national news when the first thing he did after being sworn in was remove the Mississippi state flag from his courtroom. (Up until this year, the Mississippi state flag had the confederate flag, widely seen as a symbol of white supremacy, as part of its design.)

Unafraid to take bold steps to ensure justice is served in a way that actually improves people's lives. One way he does that is using alternative sentencing—giving unique, creative, individualized consequences instead of standard fines or jail time.

Moore wrote in an Instagram post:

"As a judge I love alternative sentencing especially for young people. Today I announced that I would give an 18 year old young lady a break on a speeding ticket if she brings me back proof that she voted in next Tuesday's general election or writes 500 word essay on the importance of voting. Then I told a young 17 year old man that if he pulled up one of his Cs to a B by his next report card I would withhold adjudication on a misdemeanor ticket. Our young people are our greatest treasure and if I can encourage them to be their best and do their best I'm happy."

"I believe in alternative sentencing especially when dealing with young people who have accepted responsibility for their wrongs," Moore told Upworthy. "I believe that by giving the young people unexpected choices or alternatives to jail or a fine I can have a bigger impact on their lives and futures. I really favor rehabilitation over pure punishment."

Moore's approach has fans. As psychiatrist and author James Gilligan wrote in the New York Times in 2012, "If any other institutions in America were as unsuccessful in achieving their ostensible purpose as our prisons are, we would shut them down tomorrow." Alternative sentencing such as community service or restitution—or more creative options such as Moore's "get your grades up" or "show me you understand civic duty"—appeals to those of us who understand that punitive measures are not always the most effective. A study from the Macarthur Foundation found that when people are informed that rehabilitation is more effective than incarceration, people were willing to pay more in taxes to support it.

Rehabilitation also saves money overall. In an article in The Conversation, Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, a professor of economics at the University of Birmingham, wrote that community sentences cost on average a quarter of the amount as prison sentences and reduce crime more than prison sentences do.

But for Moore, alternative sentencing is primarily about what's going to be best for the young person in front of his bench.

"I want all that appear before me to be better upon and after meeting me than before doing the same," he says, adding, "I think anyone who administers justice must also know how to show mercy."

Justice must be served, but justice doesn't automatically mean handing down harsh punishments. Providing young people an incentive to improve is perhaps the best way to prevent crime—it requires them to take responsibility while simultaneously instilling hope and faith in their own futures.

More of this wholesome, reasonable approach to criminal justice, please, and thank you for providing the example, Judge Moore. We love to see it.