On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced the state would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to combat "organized retail crime." More than $267 million will be distributed in grants to 55 cities and counties across the state.
Newsom walked right into the classic Fox News trifecta of 1) 'lawlessness', associated with 2) anti-business sentiment, taking place in 3) California. He could spend $20B and he won't satisfy the outrage machine (because it can't be) while destroying lives and wasting tax-payer money in the process.
You hit the nail on the head Jeff. If the media was out in front of wage theft like they are on organized retail theft then perhaps $267 million could have gone to prosecuting wage theft.
With organized retail theft, it is the lackeys who cannot defend themselves in court who commit the crimes and receive the punishments, not the organizers.
Large corporations do steal wages. Small business owners do too and likely more under the radar. Like the retail theft lackeys, many small business owners may not have the means to defend themselves in court. In a perfect world, the size of the perpetrator should not make a difference. Unfortunately, it is not a perfect world and Newsome would have his political head chopped off by the media if he went after small businesses.
Thanks Judd and Rebecca, someone has to inform Gavin Newsome about what's going on regarding this issue. I'm sure that the governor knows and hears from corporate owners and those who own high end stores, but that he's not likely to hear from the low wage workers who suffer deeply when their low wages are withheld. If WAGE THEFT in CA creates a $2 billion dollar problem, 3 times the amount caused by regular theft and organized retail theft, how can this more serious problem be addressed? I'm shuddering at the prospect of more police, more people in prison, and simply more suffering by those who have no voice.
This is just another example of funds being made available for militarization of police departments. I would most likely vote for Newsome were to run for President and I'm thinking this is just a campaign event for 2028.
MAY exacerbate? It would be my opinion that “tough on crime” political theater has already exacerbated the conditions that drive criminal behavior over the past forty to fifty years. These laws were intentionally designed to create a criminal class that could be exploited for cheap or free compulsory mass labor. “Retail theft” is the new “crack cocaine” is the new Jim Crow.
If it bleeds, it leads. These isolated, and yes that is what they are, get the notice because of their brazeness. As a new member of the retail world, I can tell you that inventory loss is not due to theft as much as mismanagement. Lack of using anti theft devices, understaffed stores, and poor inventory controls, I can tell you where the real problems are. Add to that, businesses want to protect their employees by not having them stop shoplifters. Let them go, report to management who then decide if legal action needs to be taken. Corporations do manage to catch some big fish once in a while.
I'm a sales associate in the Midwest in an upscale department store. I don't know where you work, but we have people loading up shopping bags at the cosmetic counter several days a week. A co worker was shopping in a different mall and there were three different grab and runs in stores she was in. Are you saying shoplifting hasn't increased in your area? Lucky you.
I'm not denying internal theft is a problem. It's just a different issue from shoplifting.
"Are you saying shoplifting hasn't increased in your area? Lucky you." No, he's citing actual facts that indicate, on a nationwide basis, that "organized retail crime" isn't the major issue some people want to say it is.
We are an outdoor gear retailer in the SF Bay Area and get robbed 3-4 times a week, not even in a mall. Grab and runs, on camera, police called. It is tiresome and mentally discouraging but I tend to agree that the infusion of money would be better spent towards addressing the underlying societal issues and root causes of theft.
But remember that the low wage theft of the low wage workers is the WORST of all of these thefts--we need exposure of this crime by the corporate heads [Kroger among the worst].
These are two different issues. This article is saying “don’t look over here, look over there!” You can accept that people are stealing and also that companies are engaging in wage theft.
True, but corporations prefer to use theft and the fear of organized criminality to justify their prices (or inflation) to say they can’t afford wages. Business groups avoid collecting data that would hurt their lobbying efforts. They can use internal measures to detect thefts - especially by employees or while customers scan products. If the the problem was so major & needed help from the government business associations would be collecting data like mad.
From what I understand is most, not ALL, corporations now have some sort of non confrontational policy when it comes to shoplifters, so as not to open up their risk to employees. So then the question is if the corporation itself won’t pay for high quality security, why is the state now responsible for PRIVATE theft?? Oh right, that pesky corporate welfare again. Judd and crew, did you ask any corporations for their official policy on shoplifting? I’d love to see their responses!!
I wish SOMEONE would point out to retailers that consumers, like me, avoid malls because of loosened gun laws. If they are looking for a political solution to retail, start by demanding gun control.
That endless loop magnifies an actual issue to the point of ridiculousness.
Now it's a plague of lawlessness, BLM and Antifa agents. COMMUNISTAS! Run like hair is afire! We need more POLICE to counter this WAVE of illegal and CRIMINAL criminality!
I will add to the anecdotes. I know of a mall in my bright red state (funny how that used to mean ‘commie’) not too far from us where soon after it opened “group thefts” were occurring 2-3 times a week by ‘out of the area’ folks. It was situated near the interstate outside a large city on the edge of a small city with a 5 man police force.
The city expanded its police force by 3 officers, started using organized criminal activity charges instead of shoplifting because the thieves didn’t mind forfeiting their bond or leaving vehicles behind… The courts were getting clogged & costs started to stack up.
Pressure mounted on the mall so it increased its security and improved staff training.
Now the ‘group thefts’ are not an issue. A new mall brings new revenue and some ancillary growth adds to it. The additional officers are visible and affordable. Life returned to “normal” - except we all know these turkeys moved on to easier pickins.
I’m betting it is still used to justify low wages in those stores like others where it is a choice not to implement measures that would reduce internal theft and discourage ‘group theft.’
I find in your anecdote a proper, balanced police response. But I live in an over-militarized police type area. Its cooled down a whole lot since George Flloyd's death though and the new mayor and police chief seem committed to doing the job of urban policing properly.
Stand by. If it goes "south" if you will, Judd, Tesnim and crew will be writing about it.
I feel ya. I live in the Louisville area. The FOP is still resisting certain measures that were to be implemented. Finally have another police chief - not an interim.
The city just paid $20M to 2 guys convicted and then imprisoned for MANY years who were exonerated. The detective in the case was charged for lying in another case - got off with less than a slap on the wrist & is a major sore point.
God I absolutely LOATHE the FOP and find it amusing that their acronym spells fop. Sounds about right to me.
Fop became a pejorative term for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. Some of the many similar alternative terms are: coxcomb, fribble, popinjay, dandy, fashion-monger, and ninny. Macaroni was another term of the 18th century more specifically concerned with fashion. Wikipedia
😂 I remember it but haven’t hard the term in eons. To connect some dots, the FOP here (and I’m sure elsewhere) is a big proponent of scare tactics to keep their power. Sometimes more blatantly than others threatening that if they don’t get what the want criminals will overrun communities ... i.e. we’ll stop doing our jobs etc. That is relevant to the retail scare thing. Here is another old case that made the news last month - retail theft related:
Similar to drug use, no one seems interested in finding out the root causes of these two types of crimes - retail theft not done by professionals and drug use by society's most disadvantaged persons.
Is it in society's best interest to lock up people for stealing food or baby formula? How about drug use by the most disadvantaged of of society's members?
It seems that it is better to to be "tough on crime" from a political perspective than from any economic reasons. Until we understand the motivations behind these types of crrimes we will forever be in the dark about how to help people found guilty of these crimes.
Of course, there is the possibility that we already know the root causes - poverty - but since it seems to impact people of color more than 'white' people our politicians don't seem to be interested in any studies that bring this condition to light.
Besides outright racism, there is also the fact that major donors to both parties are not interested in helping to elimenate the causes of poverty. This could adversly affect their bottom lines. Cheap labor is a mainstay of capitalism. This explains why businesses always fight against unions, universal health care, raising the federal minimum wage, and now they are pushing to reverse many of the child labor laws in several states. Kids are even cheaper to employ than adults.
It would appear that Governor Newsom is preparing a president run in 2028. This would explain his attacks on DeSantis and his tough on crime stance. Presidential runs require large amounts of cash and economically challenged people don't make significant political donantions.
Using money as your guide will explain the voting patterns of many of our politcians. This has nothing to do with R vs D, but has everything to do with political ambitions. Very few politicians care about the millions of Americans who have no job secutiry, no pensions, no health care, and no possilility of a better future for themselves or their children.
Could looking forward to a bleak future be the root cause of so much drug adiction?
If you scan down to the discussion of ACEs there are these paragraphs among others. The first study was done in the 1990s. Doctors are not trained in it. I mentioned it to an NP and said it is a validated study; the CDC provides the survey and other info free. He said “I wonder how accurate it is.”
“The ACE Study is one of five parts of ACEs science, which also includes how toxic stress from ACEs damage children’s developing brains; how toxic stress from ACEs affects health; and how it can affect our genes and be passed from one generation to another (epigenetics); and resilience research, which shows the brain is plastic and the body wants to heal. Resilience research focuses on what happens when individuals, organizations and systems integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building practices, for example in education and in the family court system “
“I’ve seen about 1,200 patients who are addicted,” he says. “Of those, more than 1,100 have an ACE score of 3 or more.”
“... the more types of childhood adversity a person experienced – the higher their risk of chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence and a bunch of other consequences. The study found that most people (64%) have at least one ACE; 12% of the population has an ACE score of 4. Having an ACE score of 4 nearly doubles the risk of heart disease and cancer. It increases the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic by 700 percent and the risk of attempted suicide by 1200 percent “
I just took the ACE exam and got my score. As soon as I read about ACE's, I knew they explained my inexplicable behavior. I was raised on a diet of shame and suffered from an odd form of PTSD which encouraged my smoking, drinking and drugging by age 13, in a household where no one EVER engaged in such behavior.
I needed to drink before school as a freshman and by the time I was 19 drinking before work, I knew that I was in trouble, so I joined the USMC.
Woo Charlie, the discipline did me a WORLD of good.
Since then, I practice all things in moderation. With the exception of cigarette smoking. That is now verboten.
Oh, my score is a 6! I'm not proud but not shamed either. Just another human being trying get better at this business of being human.
It makes sense. Not so sure it is ‘odd’ for PTSD to encourage those behaviors. ‘The score’ is not something to provide pride or shame because it is based on things we cannot control. That said, overcoming circumstances is a reason to feel pride and recognize an accomplishment that also helps those around you. Chances are the adults in your life had similar exposure. It is very difficult to assess for “resilience” ... being able to deal with adverse experiences. There are key things known to add or grow personal strengths. For children it is key to have a trusted adult in their lives. For everyone - a connection to community, culture, having basic needs met (including health care & housing).
I retired a few years ago. The last several years I spent getting advice from professionals (I’m a “layperson”) & devising ways to explain to adults, especially survivors of abuse and stressed parents to see the value, instead of the hassle, of managing a few things as much as possible - making sure everyone gets adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise, mindfulness (which can mean soothing activities like music etc), and healthy relationships. These can reduce toxic stress. There are little things like caps on our DNA called “telomeres” that protect the tips of our chromosomes. Chronic / toxic stress appears to wear them down making us more susceptible to disease etc.
I was also fortunate to have opportunities to speak to & work with a variety of groups and city employees. People want information & insight. One time I was with a group of human trafficking advocates who were mostly survivors. My objective was to connect the dots of their experiences, issues that came into their lives (like substance abuse) and how the work they do as advocate is a resilience factor for them & other survivors. Sort of a toolbox for them to understand themselves, other survivors & be able to explain why people do things that seem inexplicable to everyone, police, social workers etc.
As I spoke one advocate, who I knew, was tearing up and a little agitated. She suddenly jumped up (I almost had a heart attack) and loudly proclaimed, “ I understand why it’s not my fault!.” Graduates of substance abuse programs and their families were more subdued but often asked how to share the information with their friends & family.
ACEs Too High is where I would send them. It’s a great website.
Thank you Edward. Your obviously heart-felt words are also an excellent analysis of the circumstances.
Lack of economic opportunity in certain areas and a nation-wide policy of punishing lawbreakers even after having paid their debt to society by denying them employment, low income housing and assistance of pretty much any kind also contribute.
Ours is a rich society in knowledge and resources. It boggles the mind that supposed christians apply this "you must pay for your sins" attitude to the least fortunate among us.
What a waste of money! And it will not stop the MAGA crowd and their megaphones from saying "soft on crime" and "the Dems are letting the bad people come for you". I hope this article gets shared widely and gets this program stopped. All we can do is try. Thanks for the great reporting.
Superb exposé, Judd. The money would be better used going after wage-theft employers, or creating more affordable housing, or homeless shelters. I receive many donation solicitations from Newsome, and I live in NC!
Newsom walked right into the classic Fox News trifecta of 1) 'lawlessness', associated with 2) anti-business sentiment, taking place in 3) California. He could spend $20B and he won't satisfy the outrage machine (because it can't be) while destroying lives and wasting tax-payer money in the process.
You hit the nail on the head Jeff. If the media was out in front of wage theft like they are on organized retail theft then perhaps $267 million could have gone to prosecuting wage theft.
With organized retail theft, it is the lackeys who cannot defend themselves in court who commit the crimes and receive the punishments, not the organizers.
Large corporations do steal wages. Small business owners do too and likely more under the radar. Like the retail theft lackeys, many small business owners may not have the means to defend themselves in court. In a perfect world, the size of the perpetrator should not make a difference. Unfortunately, it is not a perfect world and Newsome would have his political head chopped off by the media if he went after small businesses.
Thanks Judd and Rebecca, someone has to inform Gavin Newsome about what's going on regarding this issue. I'm sure that the governor knows and hears from corporate owners and those who own high end stores, but that he's not likely to hear from the low wage workers who suffer deeply when their low wages are withheld. If WAGE THEFT in CA creates a $2 billion dollar problem, 3 times the amount caused by regular theft and organized retail theft, how can this more serious problem be addressed? I'm shuddering at the prospect of more police, more people in prison, and simply more suffering by those who have no voice.
You and your facts again. Sheez.
Seriously, this is essential information for activism in service of economic justice. Thank you.
This is just another example of funds being made available for militarization of police departments. I would most likely vote for Newsome were to run for President and I'm thinking this is just a campaign event for 2028.
He's trying to get Chamber of Commerce and other big business on his side.
100%
MAY exacerbate? It would be my opinion that “tough on crime” political theater has already exacerbated the conditions that drive criminal behavior over the past forty to fifty years. These laws were intentionally designed to create a criminal class that could be exploited for cheap or free compulsory mass labor. “Retail theft” is the new “crack cocaine” is the new Jim Crow.
These same laws are exactly why police work is so dangerous.
If it bleeds, it leads. These isolated, and yes that is what they are, get the notice because of their brazeness. As a new member of the retail world, I can tell you that inventory loss is not due to theft as much as mismanagement. Lack of using anti theft devices, understaffed stores, and poor inventory controls, I can tell you where the real problems are. Add to that, businesses want to protect their employees by not having them stop shoplifters. Let them go, report to management who then decide if legal action needs to be taken. Corporations do manage to catch some big fish once in a while.
Judd has it right with his numbers.
I'm a sales associate in the Midwest in an upscale department store. I don't know where you work, but we have people loading up shopping bags at the cosmetic counter several days a week. A co worker was shopping in a different mall and there were three different grab and runs in stores she was in. Are you saying shoplifting hasn't increased in your area? Lucky you.
I'm not denying internal theft is a problem. It's just a different issue from shoplifting.
"Are you saying shoplifting hasn't increased in your area? Lucky you." No, he's citing actual facts that indicate, on a nationwide basis, that "organized retail crime" isn't the major issue some people want to say it is.
"Anecdote" is not the singular form of "data."
LOL and appreciate all humor! ("Anecdote" is not the singular form of "data.")
We are an outdoor gear retailer in the SF Bay Area and get robbed 3-4 times a week, not even in a mall. Grab and runs, on camera, police called. It is tiresome and mentally discouraging but I tend to agree that the infusion of money would be better spent towards addressing the underlying societal issues and root causes of theft.
But remember that the low wage theft of the low wage workers is the WORST of all of these thefts--we need exposure of this crime by the corporate heads [Kroger among the worst].
These are two different issues. This article is saying “don’t look over here, look over there!” You can accept that people are stealing and also that companies are engaging in wage theft.
True, but corporations prefer to use theft and the fear of organized criminality to justify their prices (or inflation) to say they can’t afford wages. Business groups avoid collecting data that would hurt their lobbying efforts. They can use internal measures to detect thefts - especially by employees or while customers scan products. If the the problem was so major & needed help from the government business associations would be collecting data like mad.
What’s your store’s policy on shoplifters? Are you calling the police when this happens?
We call loss prevention, but they need to see the people stealing. To call the police, the thieves would be long gone.
From what I understand is most, not ALL, corporations now have some sort of non confrontational policy when it comes to shoplifters, so as not to open up their risk to employees. So then the question is if the corporation itself won’t pay for high quality security, why is the state now responsible for PRIVATE theft?? Oh right, that pesky corporate welfare again. Judd and crew, did you ask any corporations for their official policy on shoplifting? I’d love to see their responses!!
I wish SOMEONE would point out to retailers that consumers, like me, avoid malls because of loosened gun laws. If they are looking for a political solution to retail, start by demanding gun control.
Why bother with facts and statistics, when Fox, etc., can play videos in an endless loop?
That endless loop magnifies an actual issue to the point of ridiculousness.
Now it's a plague of lawlessness, BLM and Antifa agents. COMMUNISTAS! Run like hair is afire! We need more POLICE to counter this WAVE of illegal and CRIMINAL criminality!
/s
I will add to the anecdotes. I know of a mall in my bright red state (funny how that used to mean ‘commie’) not too far from us where soon after it opened “group thefts” were occurring 2-3 times a week by ‘out of the area’ folks. It was situated near the interstate outside a large city on the edge of a small city with a 5 man police force.
The city expanded its police force by 3 officers, started using organized criminal activity charges instead of shoplifting because the thieves didn’t mind forfeiting their bond or leaving vehicles behind… The courts were getting clogged & costs started to stack up.
Pressure mounted on the mall so it increased its security and improved staff training.
Now the ‘group thefts’ are not an issue. A new mall brings new revenue and some ancillary growth adds to it. The additional officers are visible and affordable. Life returned to “normal” - except we all know these turkeys moved on to easier pickins.
I’m betting it is still used to justify low wages in those stores like others where it is a choice not to implement measures that would reduce internal theft and discourage ‘group theft.’
I find in your anecdote a proper, balanced police response. But I live in an over-militarized police type area. Its cooled down a whole lot since George Flloyd's death though and the new mayor and police chief seem committed to doing the job of urban policing properly.
Stand by. If it goes "south" if you will, Judd, Tesnim and crew will be writing about it.
I feel ya. I live in the Louisville area. The FOP is still resisting certain measures that were to be implemented. Finally have another police chief - not an interim.
The city just paid $20M to 2 guys convicted and then imprisoned for MANY years who were exonerated. The detective in the case was charged for lying in another case - got off with less than a slap on the wrist & is a major sore point.
As they say, guys like him are the reason we can’t have nice things. The city was declared uninsurable due to the price tags of so many preventable miscarriages of justice. https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/louisville-metro-agrees-to-pay-20-5-million-to-men-wrongfully-convicted-in-1992-satanic/article_f4ba2d10-4e4d-11ee-b634-270b9ce84917.html
God I absolutely LOATHE the FOP and find it amusing that their acronym spells fop. Sounds about right to me.
Fop became a pejorative term for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. Some of the many similar alternative terms are: coxcomb, fribble, popinjay, dandy, fashion-monger, and ninny. Macaroni was another term of the 18th century more specifically concerned with fashion. Wikipedia
😂 I remember it but haven’t hard the term in eons. To connect some dots, the FOP here (and I’m sure elsewhere) is a big proponent of scare tactics to keep their power. Sometimes more blatantly than others threatening that if they don’t get what the want criminals will overrun communities ... i.e. we’ll stop doing our jobs etc. That is relevant to the retail scare thing. Here is another old case that made the news last month - retail theft related:
https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/woman-sues-mcdonalds-for-wrongful-termination-after-lmpd-officer-falsely-testified-she-stole-from-store/article_4506d884-429d-11ee-853a-ff7cd5aa6801.html
Your closing paragraph sums it up nicely. Newsome should have done his homework.
Similar to drug use, no one seems interested in finding out the root causes of these two types of crimes - retail theft not done by professionals and drug use by society's most disadvantaged persons.
Is it in society's best interest to lock up people for stealing food or baby formula? How about drug use by the most disadvantaged of of society's members?
It seems that it is better to to be "tough on crime" from a political perspective than from any economic reasons. Until we understand the motivations behind these types of crrimes we will forever be in the dark about how to help people found guilty of these crimes.
Of course, there is the possibility that we already know the root causes - poverty - but since it seems to impact people of color more than 'white' people our politicians don't seem to be interested in any studies that bring this condition to light.
Besides outright racism, there is also the fact that major donors to both parties are not interested in helping to elimenate the causes of poverty. This could adversly affect their bottom lines. Cheap labor is a mainstay of capitalism. This explains why businesses always fight against unions, universal health care, raising the federal minimum wage, and now they are pushing to reverse many of the child labor laws in several states. Kids are even cheaper to employ than adults.
It would appear that Governor Newsom is preparing a president run in 2028. This would explain his attacks on DeSantis and his tough on crime stance. Presidential runs require large amounts of cash and economically challenged people don't make significant political donantions.
Using money as your guide will explain the voting patterns of many of our politcians. This has nothing to do with R vs D, but has everything to do with political ambitions. Very few politicians care about the millions of Americans who have no job secutiry, no pensions, no health care, and no possilility of a better future for themselves or their children.
Could looking forward to a bleak future be the root cause of so much drug adiction?
It is a factor. There is a pretty good predictor for addiction rates.
This doctor says: Addiction shouldn’t be called “addiction”. It should be called “ritualized compulsive comfort-seeking”.
https://acestoohigh.com/2017/05/02/addiction-doc-says-stop-chasing-the-drug-focus-on-aces-people-can-recover/
That is precisely what it is. “Ritualized compulsive comfort-seeking”.
Thank you Ann.
If you scan down to the discussion of ACEs there are these paragraphs among others. The first study was done in the 1990s. Doctors are not trained in it. I mentioned it to an NP and said it is a validated study; the CDC provides the survey and other info free. He said “I wonder how accurate it is.”
“The ACE Study is one of five parts of ACEs science, which also includes how toxic stress from ACEs damage children’s developing brains; how toxic stress from ACEs affects health; and how it can affect our genes and be passed from one generation to another (epigenetics); and resilience research, which shows the brain is plastic and the body wants to heal. Resilience research focuses on what happens when individuals, organizations and systems integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building practices, for example in education and in the family court system “
“I’ve seen about 1,200 patients who are addicted,” he says. “Of those, more than 1,100 have an ACE score of 3 or more.”
“... the more types of childhood adversity a person experienced – the higher their risk of chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence and a bunch of other consequences. The study found that most people (64%) have at least one ACE; 12% of the population has an ACE score of 4. Having an ACE score of 4 nearly doubles the risk of heart disease and cancer. It increases the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic by 700 percent and the risk of attempted suicide by 1200 percent “
I just took the ACE exam and got my score. As soon as I read about ACE's, I knew they explained my inexplicable behavior. I was raised on a diet of shame and suffered from an odd form of PTSD which encouraged my smoking, drinking and drugging by age 13, in a household where no one EVER engaged in such behavior.
I needed to drink before school as a freshman and by the time I was 19 drinking before work, I knew that I was in trouble, so I joined the USMC.
Woo Charlie, the discipline did me a WORLD of good.
Since then, I practice all things in moderation. With the exception of cigarette smoking. That is now verboten.
Oh, my score is a 6! I'm not proud but not shamed either. Just another human being trying get better at this business of being human.
It makes sense. Not so sure it is ‘odd’ for PTSD to encourage those behaviors. ‘The score’ is not something to provide pride or shame because it is based on things we cannot control. That said, overcoming circumstances is a reason to feel pride and recognize an accomplishment that also helps those around you. Chances are the adults in your life had similar exposure. It is very difficult to assess for “resilience” ... being able to deal with adverse experiences. There are key things known to add or grow personal strengths. For children it is key to have a trusted adult in their lives. For everyone - a connection to community, culture, having basic needs met (including health care & housing).
I retired a few years ago. The last several years I spent getting advice from professionals (I’m a “layperson”) & devising ways to explain to adults, especially survivors of abuse and stressed parents to see the value, instead of the hassle, of managing a few things as much as possible - making sure everyone gets adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise, mindfulness (which can mean soothing activities like music etc), and healthy relationships. These can reduce toxic stress. There are little things like caps on our DNA called “telomeres” that protect the tips of our chromosomes. Chronic / toxic stress appears to wear them down making us more susceptible to disease etc.
I was also fortunate to have opportunities to speak to & work with a variety of groups and city employees. People want information & insight. One time I was with a group of human trafficking advocates who were mostly survivors. My objective was to connect the dots of their experiences, issues that came into their lives (like substance abuse) and how the work they do as advocate is a resilience factor for them & other survivors. Sort of a toolbox for them to understand themselves, other survivors & be able to explain why people do things that seem inexplicable to everyone, police, social workers etc.
As I spoke one advocate, who I knew, was tearing up and a little agitated. She suddenly jumped up (I almost had a heart attack) and loudly proclaimed, “ I understand why it’s not my fault!.” Graduates of substance abuse programs and their families were more subdued but often asked how to share the information with their friends & family.
ACEs Too High is where I would send them. It’s a great website.
Thank you Edward. Your obviously heart-felt words are also an excellent analysis of the circumstances.
Lack of economic opportunity in certain areas and a nation-wide policy of punishing lawbreakers even after having paid their debt to society by denying them employment, low income housing and assistance of pretty much any kind also contribute.
Ours is a rich society in knowledge and resources. It boggles the mind that supposed christians apply this "you must pay for your sins" attitude to the least fortunate among us.
After all, WWJD?
Retail theft is brazen and frightening, wage theft is sneaky, unseen, and just not sexy enough for t.v. news or press conferences.
There's also a different class perspective that the MSM is not remotely interested in.
THAT is a most salient point.
What a waste of money! And it will not stop the MAGA crowd and their megaphones from saying "soft on crime" and "the Dems are letting the bad people come for you". I hope this article gets shared widely and gets this program stopped. All we can do is try. Thanks for the great reporting.
Superb exposé, Judd. The money would be better used going after wage-theft employers, or creating more affordable housing, or homeless shelters. I receive many donation solicitations from Newsome, and I live in NC!
A question - do u send this newsletter to Gavin or anyone in his cabinet? He should get a subscription!
Fox's unrealistic and harmful obsession with fear and crime is the gravest threat to the wellbeing of your great country.