On April 11, the day before police arrested Freddie Gray, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby used strong rhetoric to stir up a group gathered for a prayer vigil in South Baltimore. The vigil appears to have been set up to address violent crimes in the city.

In her call to action in the middle of an intersection in the Brooklyn Community, Mosby says:

We are the victims of crimes. We are the accused. We are the cops that police our neighborhood. We are the witnesses. We are the perpetrators. We are the judges. And as community members, we are the jury. Members of the community no longer have to be at the mercy of the justice system. We are the justice system. [see video]

In an April 5 interview with CBS Baltimore, Mosby uses similar language when she says, “the community makes up the criminal justice system.”

The traditional meaning of ‘criminal justice system’ is a group of agencies charged with investigating criminal conduct including police, the courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and corrections departments.

By inciting the crowd with mob lingo, the newly elected prosecutor (as of January 1) attempts to change in a significant way the established understanding of the justice system.

Also, in the CBS interview, the youthful Mosby talks about her aspirations to greatness when she says, “I was put on this earth to protect our community. I feel really strong about reforming the criminal justice system.”

If transforming the way our justice system operates is Mosby’s motive, then it’s not a stretch to think that Freddie Gray’s arrest and death, and the subsequent riots could be a very useful crisis. Is her subsequent indictment of six police officers continuing to fuel the fire she’s been stoking?

Headlines from this past Memorial Day weekend show homicides are up and police are taking less chances in putting themselves in harm’s way on the streets of Baltimore. Residents are locking themselves inside their houses instead of going out to take back their neighborhoods as Mosby roused them to do.

Tearing down institutions in order to reform them by using incendiary rhetoric to rouse the masses and create chaos seems like a plan.