Legacy: City and state working together to reduce crime

Witnesses said Jamail Johnson died trying to defuse an explosive situation during a party at a North Side house. Fellow students at YSU described him as a peacemaker and some at the party said he was a hero.

If those descriptions are accurate, then it will be a fitting tribute if the attention his death brought to the Youngstown area results in renewed effort to reduce violent crime in the city.

Monday, Gov. John Kasich came to Youngstown to meet with city officials and officials of Youngstown State University to discuss what can and should be done in the aftermath of an off-campus shooting that left Johnson dead and a dozen others wounded, one seriously. About half of those who were wounded were YSU students; the two men accused of opening fire are not. And the Indiana Avenue house where the shooting occurred was rented by some members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Initial reports and some national news headlines incorrectly referred to the scene of the shootings as a YSU fraternity house.

By that standard there would be hundreds of fraternity houses on most college campuses. That’s worth noting only because colleges try to police affiliated fraternity houses and on some campuses it would be impossible to host an all-night party at which men in their late 20s and early 30s socialized with 17-year-old girls.

Nonetheless, the YSU connection to Saturday night’s sad and frightening events is strong and the city’s identification with men spraying party-goers with semiautomatic gunfire is unmistakable.

A welcome offer

And so the governor’s quick efforts to reach out to YSU President Cynthia Anderson, Mayor Jay Williams and Police Chief Jimmy Hughes and his arrival here Monday was welcome.

Saturday night’s shooting was a random event, but some of the elements that came together in a deadly combination are susceptible to government intervention.

Kasich’s early list of what the state can do to help includes increased cooperation between the Ohio State Highway Patrol and other law-enforcement agencies, including the U.S. attorney’s office, aimed at getting guns and criminals off the streets, a crackdown on underage and after-hours alcohol sales, drug abuse intervention and efforts to put violent criminals in prison and keep them there for longer sentences.

That last factor is right out of Kasich’s standard playbook, but it is a key to reducing street violence. It is worth noting that one of the men charged in the shootings had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of felony burglary. He was sentenced to an in-house treatment program to be followed by two years’ probation, but was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison because of a probation violation. He began that sentence in February 2008 but released in April 2009. Had he served the full sentence, he would just be getting out of prison, and would barely have had time to re-arm himself.

It should also be noted that longer prison sentences alone don’t protect society because most prisoners are eventually released. Without rehabilitation, they’re likely to repeat.

Kasich also talked about long-range goals to rehabilitate neighborhoods, create jobs, increase hope and reduce crime.

“These things have been talked about,” Kasich said. “What bothers me about talk is it is cheap.”

Which was a good way to end his visit to Youngstown and an even better way to start working toward the goals established.