The Atlanta Newspaper’s Culture of Gang Crime Denial

(Part I of a Two-Part Series)

Unlike Gov. Brian Kemp, who laudably sounded alarms about the crisis of gang crime besieging Georgia, the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s staff appears to live in perpetual gang crime denial. This occurs as the killing field that is Fulton and DeKalb counties are now increasingly referred to as Atlantistan, the murder capital of the South.

Author Daniel Horwitz has plainly stated, “Most murder is gang-related.” Yet the AJC’s coverage of Atlanta’s skyrocketing violent crime consistently fails to lay the blame where it belongs— gangs, and the failure of all too many Georgia officials to contend with the state’s thousands of violent gang members.

Persistent Refusal to Cover Gangs

While making perfunctory mentions of rising violent crime, the AJC never seems willing to identify gangs as being involved, much less as the driving force. AJC columns in the wake of Insider Advantage asking that we “say the names,” of gang-crime victims illustrate:

Dec. 28, 2020 article identifies Atlanta children murdered during 2020 but contains the word “gang” only once;
Jan. 15, 2021 editorial on rising crime whimpers that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms should “push much harder,” but never mentions gangs;

Jan. 15, 2021 article taking at face value Bottoms’ new pronouncements on crime, despite the fact she detailed no specific plans to increase arrests and prosecutions under Georgia’s anti-gang laws;
Jan. 15, 2021 article states that Open Records Act requests revealed that 2020 was “an especially deadly year,” but describes no such requests into the use of Georgia’s anti-gang laws;
Jan. 21, 2021 article implies that aggressive use of Georgia’s anti-gang laws constitutes a bad thing, without mention of rising murder rates in areas of their underuse; and
Jan. 22, 2021 article bemoans that gang members are dangerous inside Georgia prison walls, but never concedes that wholesale release of gang members would endanger public safety.

These misfires only scratch the surface, as this non-exhaustive catalogue demonstrates.

Alleged Gang Ties Ignored

According to widely available sources, accused Atlanta Phipps Plaza shooter Daquan Reed was previously sentenced for his involvement in a gang-related shooting. The gang aspect of the prior incident did not make it into the AJC story on his arrest.

Some Gangs “Good” Other Gangs “Bad”

The AJC recently whined about “comprehensive” gang indictments, which seek to bring entire swaths of gangs to justice, after one was brought against alleged members of the Crips gang. But when massive, comprehensive federal and state indictments were returned against Ghostface Gangsters, a white supremacist gang, the AJC voiced no apparent objection.

The AJC ought to explain its selective outrage at this proven methodology.

Killer “Criminal Justice Reform”

According to a CNS News report, “This huge rise in murder [nationally] occurred as progressive prosecutors became softer on crime, parole became available to more murderers, and the death penalty stopped being used in most states.” A column at The Hill explains, “It’s hard to see how more leniency for…gang members — will help reverse rather than exacerbate these trends.”

National Review, Manhattan Institute, and Conservative Review authors predicted the coming dangers of mass deincarceration. In the words of Georgia Gang Investigator Association President Jimmy Callaway, “Ignoring America’s Gang Crisis in the name of reform, however, does not benefit public safety.”

The AJC needs to report on these consequences and confront Georgia’s “criminal justice reformers” and tell us if, given their program’s contribution to rising crime, they are finally willing to prioritize public safety over jailbreak.

Metro Mayhem and Media Mendacity

In spite of staggering murder rates the AJC let metro Atlanta district attorneys, who rarely use Georgia’s anti-gang laws, collectively slide, muttering that their abysmal gang charging is due to their focus on gang leaders.

Seriously? Try asking, “Given Atlanta’s homicide rates, how is that all working?” Plus, the AJC should have pointed out that violent crime is reduced when anti-gang laws are used aggressively.