On the other side are those who believe that it is more important to address the social, racial and economic factors behind crime.

“I actually think we should care why these individuals are committing these crimes. If we don’t know why then how will we prevent it? In other words, we need to understand the cause not just focus on the symptom,” Ned Malone wrote on newhilleast.

Sarah A. Spurgeon posted a comment there that reflects the complexity of the issue of crime for many Hill residents:

These mostly juvenile offenders are engaging in violent crime because they can without any serious repercussions, plain and simple. While I agree we need to address deep rooted social issues, like economic inequality and institutional racism, that may be the fundamental source of these crimes, the more immediate reason they are engaging in violent crime is because the deterrent is so low. So yes, while we need to continue to invest in addressing social problems — and it should be noted that DC has many, many services and social programs that can be taken advantage of — there are more expedient and effective measures for this recent surge in violent crime. Our political leaders must have the courage to increase the immediate and sustained penalties for juveniles and others who engage in violent, criminal behavior. No, we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, but we can ensure there are meaningful consequences for those who are arrested. Currently, it appears that those who rob by force (i.e., via assault or with a gun) are released to their guardians and are never prosecuted.

Richard Lukas, another resident, takes a more aggressive posture on the listserv: “We are being terrorized by a small percentage of ‘irrational actors’.”

What can be done? “Nothing.” Public officials, Lukas argues,

are loathe to address publicly what we all know privately: There is a very active segment of marauding at-risk youths who find satisfaction from terrorizing people on a daily basis.

Daniel Chao, a Democratic congressional staffer and an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, made several points in an interview: “the underlying issue is a lack of jobs, an economy that does not perform for a group of people.” He noted that poor people in public housing on the Hill are “living in constant fear of crime,” reluctant to report offenses because the person arrested is often back on the streets within hours. Chao believes the police “are doing everything they can, but they catch people and next day they are released.”

One of the more outspoken contributors to newhilleast is Margaret Holwill, a 40-year Hill resident who is angered by the fact that teenagers’ records are secret. She writes on the listserv that juvenile “records would certainly have affected the court being able to hold defendants pending trial. It would absolutely make a difference in any possible plea bargains. And sentences. It would get cold-blooded criminals off our streets.”

On the listserv, she voiced her disagreement with Ta-Nehisi Coates:

Oh, please. Ta-Nehisi Coates fixates on mass incarceration for which he blames the system but ignores the community members who simply walked away from responsibility for the children they sired or family members they could have influenced.

Capitol Hill is only one neighborhood engaged in the national debate over incarceration, especially of minorities. On the other side of the country, California has taken the lead. Last year, the state’s voters approved Proposition 47. The initiative reduces such crimes as shoplifting, grand theft, forgery, fraud and bad check writing from felonies to misdemeanors — as long as the value does not exceed $950. The measure also calls for the resentencing of inmates previously convicted when these crimes were treated as felonies.

The penalty for misdemeanors is most often probation.

An extensive examination of the California initiative by Eli Saslow of The Washington Post earlier this month found a number of unintended consequences:

In the 11 months since the passage of Prop 47, more than 4,300 state prisoners have been resentenced and then released. Drug arrests in Los Angeles County have dropped by a third. Jail bookings are down by a quarter. Hundreds of thousands of ex-felons have applied to get their previous drug convictions revised or erased.

Over the same period, however,

along with the successes have come other consequences, which police departments and prosecutors refer to as the “unintended effects”: Robberies up 23 percent in San Francisco. Property theft up 11 percent in Los Angeles. Certain categories of crime rising 20 percent in Lake Tahoe, 36 percent in La Mirada, 22 percent in Chico and 68 percent in Desert Hot Springs.

“It’s a slap on the wrist the first time and the third time and the 30th time, so it’s a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card,” Shelley Zimmerman, San Diego’s police chief, told Saslow. “We’re catching and releasing the same people over and over.”