Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said she hears every day from community members and business owners grappling with property crime issues like stolen vehicles and shattered storefront windows. She hears too about the effects of violent crime rippling out into neighborhoods.
“You don’t just wake up one day and decide that you’re going to go on a rampant robbery spree or steal a ring of cars,” she said. “That type of behavior builds up. When you are looking at the repeat offenders in our community, they didn’t get there overnight.”
“Once they have reached that level of criminality,” she said, “they typically reoffend, reoffend and reoffend again.”…