A struggle over a McDonald’s sauce packet within the District final weekend left one teen lady useless, one other charged with homicide and a neighborhood grappling with how vulnerable younger individuals of each sexes are to getting caught up within the metropolis’s juvenile crime disaster — as both sufferer or perpetrator.

Metropolitan Police stated a 16-year-old lady from Waldorf, Maryland, faces homicide prices within the stabbing dying of Naima Liggon, a 16-year-old who can also be from Waldorf. The teen suspect had a knife on her when she was taken into custody Sunday only a block away from the incident, in response to authorities.

Police first realized of the incident round 2:10 a.m. Sunday when officers responded to an area hospital to evaluate Naima, who was affected by stab wounds. The teen later died from her accidents. 

An MPD detective testified on the suspect’s arraignment Monday that the sufferer and the accused got here to the District collectively for a celebration with three different individuals.

The teenagers acquired right into a struggle over sweet-and-sour sauce after leaving the McDonald’s on the nook of 14th and U streets Northwest towards the top of their evening. The two acquired out of the automobile to proceed their struggle, and the police stated that’s when Naima was stabbed twice — as soon as within the stomach, and as soon as within the chest.

The lady’s protection legal professional stated the younger suspect needs to be launched to her mother and father as a result of, the legal professional argued, the lady was defending herself from Naima and one other passenger who each attacked the suspect exterior of the automobile.

But the D.C. decide ordered the lady to be saved behind bars since surveillance video confirmed Naima getting stabbed on the sidewalk, after which once more as she tried to get again into the automobile. The teen’s subsequent detention listening to shall be Friday.

“The impact of this senseless loss has affected our family, our friends, and our community,” Joy Liggon, Naima’s mom, stated in an announcement. “Naima will never see her prom or her graduation. We will not get to see her graduate from college or get married or have kids.”

The case is the most recent proof of a disturbing development indicating teen women are as prepared as their male counterparts to make use of lethal pressure to settle disputes or commit violent offenses within the District.

Police stated they arrested a 13-year-old lady final month in reference to a carjacking. The lady was allegedly a part of a trio of juveniles who beat up and stole a sufferer’s automobile in Northwest. 

Every week later, police stated they have been looking out for 2 juvenile women who carried out a taking pictures in Southeast. 

Teen women have additionally contributed to the scourge of robberies hitting the District this summer time. 

A 15-year-old from Suitland, Maryland, was taken into custody final month after police stated she robbed 5 individuals over a three-day interval. A distinct 15-year-old lady, who lives in Southeast, was arrested and charged with robbing 4 individuals inside 4 hours on Aug. 4.

D.C. residents have been shocked by the variety of younger offenders all yr lengthy, however witnessing women be implicated in crimes as heinous as their male friends is hanging a distinct chord.  

“When we think of little girls, we don’t think of stabbing. We don’t think of being charged with murder. We don’t think of someone losing their life due to being stabbed,” Salim Adofo, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 8, advised The Washington Times. “We don’t think of a little girl possibly being incarcerated for stabbing someone. Those are just things that just [don’t] come to mind.”   

Why juvenile women are committing violent crimes is unclear.

Asiyah Timimi, who runs the R.O.C.Ok. Now group that works to scale back recidivism, advised The Times that she believes it’s a mix of drug use and romantic pursuits with boys who're additionally breaking the legislation. 

She stated it’s widespread for teen boys to introduce their girlfriends to crime by having them arrange rivals or run different illicit errands for them.

Wendy Hamilton, a D.C. public faculties worker and likewise an ANC commissioner in Ward 8, blames TV reveals such because the Real Housewives or the Bad Girls Club for glamorizing cattiness and making it aspirational for younger women.

She stated this angle can elevate minor tiffs on social media into actual life fights on campus. 

Last weekend’s slaying occurred in an space that can fall beneath a juvenile curfew taking impact Friday. 

Police would’ve had authority to detain the suspected killer and Naima on sight since each women have been in one of many designated curfew zones previous midnight. 

Children who're picked up by police shall be taken to the D.C.’s juvenile facility in Northeast, the place they must wait for his or her mother and father or guardians to return get them.But observers are skeptical the curfew would’ve prevented the lethal stabbing.

Mr. Adofo stated the District doesn’t implement the curfew that’s already on the books. He added that the simplest curfews come from mother and father — not cops — and efforts needs to be made to present struggling households the mandatory assets to offer for his or her youngsters, moderately than counting on police.

A 2003 Department of Justice research checked out how efficient the District’s juvenile curfew was at driving down crime amongst youth offenders. Researchers concluded the 1995 legislation establishing the curfew was “not effective at reducing total juvenile arrests.”

Further, a joint report from nonprofit journalism outfit The Marshall Project and the Baltimore Banner printed this yr discovered that curfews don’t deal with youth crime issues as a result of most juveniles commit violent crimes in the course of the day.

Still, a change in police ways can’t account for the deeper points affecting the District’s youth that Ms. Timimi stated first sprouted up in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“What is going on in our society where children are just reacting and they don’t take life serious,” Ms. Timimi stated. “We’re just losing so many people — so many children, so many youth — either to prison or death, as well as drugs. It is really, really a depressing generation.”

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com