"Raise the Age" has failed (10-28-2025--Hour2)

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links. Become a patron, go to vpeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. So another murder along the light rail. But the Charlotte Area Transit system wants everybody to know that this did not occur on Kat's property. Okay, it did not occur at the Archdale station platform. It did not occur on the Charlotte light rail line. It occurred under underneath the light of course. I mean, just looking at the video. I used to live down there years ago in this area, long before there was a light rail line. But the rail line goes up and over the road, and so the video that I saw was underneath like that overpass. So the train track is up above, and the homicide occurred down at the street level. It occurred in the wee hours of six thirty pm. So like rush hour commuting time, basically when people would be riding the light rail, which is not where the homicide occurred. The Charlotte Mecklaburg Police Department said they responded to an assault with the deadly weapon called just after six thirty pm on the sixty one hundred block of South Boulevard. At the scene, they found a person near the train tracks with a gunshot wound. That person was taken to an area hospital, where they later died. CMPD said a preliminary investigation indicates that the alter case happened at a nearby business, but no additional details have been made available at this time. Also, the other day, this was last week, when there was a one man crime spree that occurred in that started up in north West Charlotte and then ended in West Charlotte about a block from the radio station here. I think it occurred on Friday maybe and at like three o'clock in the afternoon it ended. It started with a double well now it's a double murder, and then the suspect did a home invasion, kidnapped a woman, threw her in her car, stole her car, was driving it around, fled from police, shooting at police from the car crashed, The car ran shot at the cops again and the cops returned fire and put the maniac down. One of the two initial victims that was shot, one was killed at the scene. The other was taken to the hospital, but he has now passed away and so our condolences to his family and friends. His name was Shabbaz Messiah Grant, thirty four year old father of four with another child on the way, and he was driving for lift when he was shot twice on Hoskins Road that caused him to crash into a house. A passenger in his vehicle returned fire. There was somebody so he had a passenger in the lift vehicle who opened fire on the suspect and then provided aid to Shabaz Grant until emergency responders arrived. This is according to story WSOCTV by Jonathan Lowe. Grant was eventually taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Sunday, the suspect, Joseph Andrade, allegedly stole a car, crashed into a house, kidnapped a woman, led police on a high speed chase before a shootout near Pinky's West Side Grill resulted in his death, Andrade is twenty eight years old. He is from Ocala, Florida. Had a criminal record with at least four arrests in Marion County, Florida, mostly for traffic related charges. There's no understanding yet at least publicly disclosed about the motive behind why he did what he did the other day. But at least he did us all the favor of not having to go through a trial, which brings us to one of the I would submit one of the causes of the crime wave that we are seeing in the lack of prosecution. There are multiple facets to this issue. I've been covering this, you know, for the last gosh, I don't know year. Well, I mean the issue of crime in general, for most of, if not all, of my career, because as a reporter, you get sent out to cover crime stories, and so when you go out and cover the crime stories, you're talking to victims, families, You're going to court. I've sat through trials and such over the years, and as a you know, government beat reporter, you cover a lot of the policies that lawmakers try to craft in order to address some of these problems or to quote unquote reform criminal justice, and of course we saw a lot of this in the wake of the twenty twenty summer of fiery but mostly peaceful riots and this you know, quote unquote racial reckoning that was occurring. Whatever that meant, it was never really clear what that meant. But you know, the Ferguson effect, and we're going to you know, we're going to lighten some of these sentences and we're going to take a restorative justice approach. And the MacArthur Foundation and all of their funding they've been pumping into criminal court systems in North Carolina, Mecklemberg County for one, like over three million dollars over the years recent years, like over the last six years they've they've poured in and what they buy for that trainings, you know, they do trainings for court staff, magistrates, you know, court officials and stuff, you know, and they're they're pitching everything through the quote, you know, le equity lens and what does that mean. Well, now you're getting into disparate outcomes, like, oh, well, we see you know, this high proportion of you know, people who are incarcerated who are black or Hispanic, although that's an ethnicity, not a race, And so now it's coming to light that the coding in a lot of jail systems has been coding Hispanics as whites, which might maybe skew some of the data. I think maybe not sure, but I think it might. If you're coding all Hispanic offenders has white offenders, I think that might have an impact on some of the data. But that's a different topic. One of the other issues that we have seen is this surge in youth offense, right youth offenders that are constantly being released, sometimes most times, you know, not even getting any kind of punishment. They're just released back to their parent or guardian who's doing a terrible job as a parent or guardian because their kid has a rap sheet you know, longer than the life they have lived so far. And so the cause of this, I would submit, is the raise the age laws. And North Carolina did this, and it was the Republican General Assembly that did it, and Roy Cooper signed it into law. Now the legislature has gone back and toughened some of the law to make some of the more egregious offenses now you know, classify or push these juvenile offenders into an adult category to allow them to be tried as an adult because they just took everything down for like sixteen seventeen year olds and just you know, you know, you're a juvenile. So there was a piece by the editorial board at the New York Post the other and this is through the lens of their you know, mayoral election. But they are dealing with the same problem that Charlotte is and every urban you know, blue city run jurisdiction is dealing with these raise the age offenders, a generation of kids who have become career criminals before they are even eligible to vote. And there's no coming back from that, right you rack up two three dozen charges as a juvenile and I know they're like, oh, you know. Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. 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That is exactly right, because you've got this massive increase in the number of teenage victims, a ninety six percent increase in victims under the age of eighteen who have been shot, and you've got this even larger increase in the number of shooters, one hundred and forty eight percent increase in teen shooters and that comes as overall shootings have declined. And again, this is in New York State or New York City, I believe, uh, I believe it's New York City. But they adopted this Raise the Age reform seven years, six years ago, way before North Carolina did. North Carolina has already had to go back and edit their law in order to boost some of these sentences and say, Okay, we're going to take these crime categories out of the Raise the Age and move them into the category where you can be tried as an adult. They go on to say teenagers are impulsive and make bad decisions. I have heard this, by the way, about teenagers. I mean I never did. I was never impulsive, I never made bad decisions as a teenager. But I have heard that. It's it's pretty well known. So it's up to adults to show them what behavior society will not accept and will accept. Right teens, kids, even adults, we all need guardrails. And I'm not saying, you know, legislate morality, not saying that, but if you accept certain behaviors in your society, you will get more of it because you've told people it's acceptable. And if you tell them this is not acceptable, and we will punish you severely because it is not acceptable, then you will get less of that thing. Now I understand, Like, what about the war on drugs? I understand that, But what has happened? And look, as a lowercase libertarian, I have argued for the decriminalization of marijuana for years. I understand you drive, you drive the market underground. However, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that the decriminalization has led to less usage. That hasn't happened. It's the opposite, More people use it because it's legalized. The point there was that there was a black market, which then, of course has massive criminal incentives around it. Intervening in the life of a wayward kid with real punishment early on teaches him to stay away from law breaking and discourages making a life's style out of victimizing others. Right, It also destroys the fabric of your society, allowing teenagers to run wild in the streets, attacking people, murdering people, vandalizing things, you know, robbing stores and such, without any kind of repercussions. Any kind of penalties teaches them that they can continue to do it, and it teaches the society that you don't want to be anywhere around this kind of lack of enforcement, and people will leave, businesses will close. You destroy the high trust society that you are enjoying. Like this is civilizational stuff. I keep coming back to the hierarchy of needs on this thing, Like fundamental to any functioning civil society is an expectation of security. And if you cannot provide that, then there is no re and for free citizens to engage in the social contract. I would not. Why would I? Why would I go down and spend money in an area where I'm taking my life into my hands? If I if I were looking to open a business, if I'm a wealthy entrepreneur looking to set up businesses someplace, why would I go into a location that has high crime. I would not because my patrons would be victimized, my employees would be victimized, I would lose money, and I would have to close. I would I would That's not a profitable business, so I would not go there. This is the reverse of actual compassion. You are putting these kids on a life long path towards misery. Lawmakers have to drastically revise this law. This raised the age law before it ruins an entire generation. Here's a great idea. 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Right, you're on the beat, You've been on the beat, that's been your beat for a very long time, and so you know the history of these policy changes or the personalities involved, right, the candidates and such. You have that historical record and knowledge, and so This is a I think a well timed piece. There's a jail that is basically empty. It was a juvenile detention facility in North mech and it was closed like three years ago by our sheriff, Gary not my fault McFadden. Now, this may surprise you to learn that the sheriff says the closure of the facility was not his fault, but he closed it. It was the only juvenile detention center in Mecklenburg County. Now some in the criminal justice system, according to the reports, still hope for its return. State public safety leaders and local advocates agree something important was lost when McFadden shut down the facility, once known as Jail North. Today, much of the building sits empty in North Charlotte, and local teenagers who are charged with crimes that are actually sent to a jail, they're sent to a state juvenile facility located in Caberras County. For years, according to the story, State Department of Public Safety Deputy Secretary William Lassiter has tried to persuade not my fault McFadden to do something with the building that once housed seventy two teenagers. While North Carolina is responsible for juvenile jails. Lassiter has argued that Charlotte saw benefits when the sheriff's office ran one. Listen to this quote. I tried to lease the facility from McFadden. This is the state Deputy Secretary for Public Safety, William Lassiter. I tried to lease it. I tried to buy it. I tried to offer incentives for them to do it. All those have been rejected. At this point, I feel like the ball is in their court, meaning the sheriff's office. The sheriff McFadden has his own plan though, to reopen the jail, and we have heard this. I mentioned this couple months ago when I came across this line in some interview that he gave, and I thought, well, that's just a stupid idea, and apparently the state agrees with me. They called it unfeasible, so it's not feasible. I called it stupid. In twenty twenty two, McFadden closed Jail North. Staff working at that facility were then moved to Uptown, where they worked with adults instead of teenagers. Short staffing numbers and other issues forced the sheriff's hand, he said at the time. The law says juvenile justice is a state responsibility, which it is like the creating these juvenile jails and stuff. The state operates a handful of them across the state. Jail North was always optional, even if it was beneficial. Okay, so far, totally agree with all of that. It's like the crime lab. Charlotte has its own crime lab. It built its own crime lab because the state crime Lab, when it was being run by then Attorney General Roy Cooper, was not able to keep up with the demand on its services from Charlotte. So Charlotte built its own crime lab so it could actually get the data analyzed and get it back to the investigators in a timely fashion. Housing adults and ensuring they are in a safe facility, however, is something that sheriffs are legally mandated to do. In an interview on Monday, McFadden repeatedly said he would like to reopen Jail North. Quote. Do I want to open the juvenile detention Center? Absolutely? One hundred percent. This is how he always talks. He always he always asks himself a question and then answers the question. You know, so why not open it on a small Oh, so, he says, but hiring here's why he can't reopen it. Hiring more than ninety people to work at the facility would be long involved work, even if the state helped pay for some of those employees. So it's just too hard to hire people. Why not open it on a smaller scale, he says. If you're going to open it up and it goes max on the first week, I believe he means maximum population, then what are you going to do Whether you entertain one person for mental health or fourteen, you still have to have a doctor for mental health. You cook fourteen chicken sandwiches versus one hundred chicken sandwiches, you know what, you still need You know what, you still need a cook. So he just can't staff it, is what he's saying. So why bother trying, why bother trying a phased in approach? This is absurd. This is why this is maladministration. This is something you should actually be removed from office for. If you can't figure out how to phase up and open a facility, then you should not be the top administrator of that facility. So how about the idea of leasing it to the state or selling it to the state. And you know what his answer is, Well, how are they going to staff it, that's not your problem. If they have offered to lease it and staff it. If they have all offered to buy it and staff it, that's not your problem anymore. Why wouldn't you, Why wouldn't you offload this to the state that you point out it's their responsibility to do this stuff, Well, then just sell them the building or lease it to them and let them worry about the staffing that you are incapable of doing. Lassiter, the deputy director who oversees juvenile justice, said he has tried to find a solution with McFadden for years, but he recently gave up. He said it's up to the sheriff's office to say what it needs. So what's McFadden's idea? The stupid idea, I shall tell you in a moment. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website, and it come binds news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. So what is the stupid idea from Gary? Not my fault. McFadden Mecklimer County sheriff. So he's got the Jail North facility, but he's mothballed the thing basically for the last three years, saying he couldn't keep it staffed, and they relocated the employees to Central Jail to now guard adults. So now Mecklimber County has no juvenile jail facility, which means that the state can't house any of these juveniles in Mecklimber County. They got to send them up to Cabaris or to the other I think there's like two, three or four around the rest of the state, and they got to ship them off there. And the state has said, well, we'll lease the building from the sheriff, and the sheriff says no, and we'll buy the building from you. The sheriff says no. And the reason why, according to the sheriff, is because he doesn't think that the state will be able to staff it. But that's a state problem, that's not a Sheriff macfadden problem. So you blocking the lease or sale of this facility to the state like you are now responsible. I know it's not your brand to ever accept the responsibility or the fault for something, but this is on you now because you don't want the state to take over this facility to open it back up, which is kind of on the same brand as the you know, not going to cooperate with ice and uh, you know, just let people out of the jail and we can you know, we can reform everybody in the jail by giving them access to a recording studio so they can cut their their sick wraps and licks and such. But he does have an idea for that facility, the Jail North facility. He proposed this idea to the Observer in this interview, but he has proposed it before, and I have called this a very stupid idea. He says the state could shut down the juvenile detention center in Cabaris County and then move all of the Cabaris County staff to Mecklenburg and put them under his employment because he has created some such a fantastic work environment that everybody wants to work for sheriff, not my fault, McFadden, So they don't. They actually are leaving. They are fleeing his employee, and they are writing scathing letters to the public, to the sheriff, to their fellow colleagues about the dictatorial nature of McFadden's leadership style, calling it a toxic work environment, calling him a narcissist, a micromanager, abusive use, using racial slurs against his employees, his command staff, Like, nobody wants to work with this guy, So why would the state close the Cabaris County facility and move all of those employees under McFadden's employment overnight. He says, they could start reporting to him. What a megalomaniac. Here's the quote. I hate to say this, spoiler, he doesn't. I hate to say this, but it's kind of like the Jeffersons kind of moving on up. Oh my god, the raging narcissism of this man. The idea that you would consider that as an employee at Cabaris County's jail, that if I were now transferred to go work for Mecklimberg County, which, by the way, for those who are unaware, is a different entity than Cabaris County. So you now are no longer an employee in Cabaris County. Now you're an employee of Meclimberg County. Okay, but you would somehow transfer that employment or something. But he says, you'd be moving on up because we're better than Cabarras County, which is what I Obviously, you have such a hard time recruiting people to come work in Mecklenburg from Cabarras County, right, Nobody wants to come work in Mecklimburg County. He says, you move from this facility to this facility, and I'll give you what you want. I mean, if you want a toxic work environment and racial slurs and micromanagement, then yes, that's what he would be able to provide you. McFadden has floated this idea before, according to the spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety, Matt Debnan, he said it's not feasible though. First, he says, the employees working at Cabarras County's juvenile jail or state employees, meaning they applied specifically to work for North Carolina, and there is not a way to simply transfer them to a county job. Also, closing Cabaris County's facility would not actually alleviate the capacity issues that are facing the juvenile justice system. In fact, it would result in a net loss of juvenile detention beds. You see, Jail North has seventy two beds, Cabaris County has one hundred and fifty eight. So this is why McFadden's idea is stupid. Why would you close the facility that has one hundred and fifty eight beds and then transfer all those employees somehow or another to a new employer of Mecklenburg County and get like half the number of beds, less than half the number. How dumb it makes you wonder. It makes you wonder is there some other reason? Is there another reason why you refuse to lease or sell this property to the state so it can now open another juvenile justice facility? Is there something else going on? Is there another reason? Because this isn't a plan. What you have pitched here is a stupid plan. It's not going to work. It doesn't work, and it would be worse. Appending lawsuit in federal court alleges poor conditions at the Caberras County facility. The lawsuit mentions Jail North's closure because the kids who were going to Jail North now go to Caberras. The Department of Public Safety is not shy about those problems, saying the reality is right now in juvenile detention, we are overcrowded, we are short staffed. Yes, there are three facilities in Rockingham Perkamont's County. I always get that one wrong, and Richmond County. They have opened since Jail North closed. That's given the juvenile justice system some breathing room, according to the state, But facilities across the state are still at capacity and some teenagers are having to sleep in cots. Statewide, there are four hundred and twenty five miners in facilities and only four hundred and seven beds for them, So that's the delta. That's the gap, is about twenty beds. Jail North has seventy two. So you could even if you're half staffed, you could open some of those beds. You could open like a third of that space and alleviate the overcrowding. But he won't do it. McFadden won't do it, and I don't believe it has to do with his concern that the state can't staff it. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.