Category: Politics

Millionaire Serial Rapist Likely to Be Released in 4 Years Due to “Reforms”

by · Dec 25, 2022 3:05 pm

The soft on crime crowd likes to call their agenda “criminal justice reform.” The term “reform” is usually associated with efforts to make things better, but so-called criminal justice reform in California appears to be aimed at creating as many miscarriages of justice as possible.

Andrew Luster, heir to the Max Factor make up fortune, committed multiple rapes by drugging his victims. In 2003, he was convicted of 86 offenses and sentenced to 124 years in prison, according to this story by Travis Schlepp for KTLA. With a sentence that long, one would think that the victims could rest assured he would never get out and put him out of their minds to the extent possible, right?

In 2003, Luster’s sentence was vacated on the ground that the original judge did not state the reasons for giving him the maximum on each count, as obvious as they may be, and the new judge resentenced him to 50 years. But that is still pretty much life without parole for a defendant who was 40 at the time of the trial, right? The victims could still rest assured he would not get out until he was dead or at least very old, couldn’t they? Enter Proposition 57. Continue reading . . .

Lessons from Crime and Punishment in El Salvador

by · Dec 9, 2022 9:56 am

Hans Bader has this post at Liberty Unyielding: “The murder rate has fallen by two thirds since 2018, and crime has fallen by 75%, in El Salvador as it has imprisoned large numbers of criminals. The country has put a hefty 2% of its adult population in prison. This is due to the anti-crime policies of its current president, Nayib Bukele.”

Bader quotes an essay by Edgar Beltrán at Law and Liberty:

In 2015, El Salvador reached a sky-high 103 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The year before Bukele came to power, it was 51 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Now, it is 17.6, about half the rate of American cities such as Philadelphia or Chicago…. Bukele is, by far, the most popular, democratically elected leader in the world. Independent polls have his local approval rating around 80 or 85%. The explanation is relatively simple: El Salvador went from being one of the most violent countries in the world, absolutely dominated by criminal gangs, to reducing crime by 75%. Bukele promised to end crime and he delivered … by putting in jail almost 2% of the adult population of the country.

Continue reading . . .

The Influence of Crime on the Midterm Election

by · Nov 23, 2022 11:13 am

A review of the post-mortems from the November 8th midterm elections indicate that many were surprised by the outcome.  Most polls got it wrong.  The wailing by liberal pundits in the weeks prior to the election suggested that they were afraid voters were ready to put Republicans in charge of Congress and many state houses in response to inflation, crime, immigration and general dissatisfaction with the direction of the country under Democrat management.  With the exception of a handful of contests, this did not happen.  I was among those who felt that the issue of crime, in particular, was going to induce voters to cross political lines to pic candidates pledging to stop the violence, theft and squalor that currently defines many parts of America.   Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald evaluates the voters response to crime with this piece in the City Journal.

Continue reading . . .

LA Votes for More Crime

by · Nov 17, 2022 11:32 am

With the election of liberal congressperson Karen Bass as Mayor, and the replacement of LA County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva with former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, Los Angeles voters have made a clear choice to reject any aggressive effort to reduce the crime and violence which plagues the city.   Sheriff Vilaneuva’s tough-on-crime approach will be replaced by Sheriff Luna’s promise to investigate his own department and develop a “more collegial” relationship with pro-criminal District Attorney George Gascon.  During the campaign, mayoral candidate Rick Caruso promised to add 1,500 officers to the police force, restore the Crash Unit that targets high crime areas, crack down on gun traffickers, and push for reform or repeal of Proposition 47.  He set a goal of taking 30,000 homeless off the streets in the first year, clearing out parks, beaches and sidewalks. He pledged to build and repurpose properties to create shelter space at half of LA’s current $700,000 per bed housing cost. He has also pledged to expand mental health and drug addiction services to get the 67% of LA homeless who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs into care.

Continue reading . . .

Political Violence

by · Oct 28, 2022 10:01 am

The WSJ has this report on the break-in of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi. It appears at this time that the attack was politically motivated.  “The intruder shouted, ‘Where is Nancy?’ before attacking her husband, one of the officials said.” Continue reading . . .

The Truth and Myth of Willie Horton

by · Oct 14, 2022 10:45 am

With Republicans finally running effective campaign ads on the crime issue, we are hearing predictable cries from the soft-on-crime crowd that this is Willie Horton all over again. It is, but that does not mean what they are implying. Horton and his crimes were a completely valid criticism of a horrible policy decision by Massachusetts Governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, but it has gone down in leftist mythology as racist fear-mongering. Diana Allocco has the first of a two-part series of articles at Tipp Insights here. Continue reading . . .

Crime Near Top of Public Concerns

by · Oct 6, 2022 2:57 pm

In a representative democracy, the way a representative votes on an issue is determined not only by what position the voters favor but also by how important they think the issue is. The issues foremost in the public mind are those where a representative is least likely to go against the majority view of the voters. Further down the list, voters’ disagreement with a representative’s vote is less likely to change how they vote in the election. Representatives may feel more free to vote differently based on other factors, including the views of major contributors, impact on favorability of media coverage, or their own (possibly misguided) views of good policy.

Monmouth University has this poll, finding that crime has risen to number two on the voters’ priority list. Continue reading . . .

Cal. Legislature’s Rescue of Murderers Upheld

by · Aug 24, 2022 12:32 pm

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is engaged in an all-out effort to reduce the sentences of LA murderers. Among the beneficiaries of Gascón’s efforts is Scott Collins, who gunned down Fred Rose in 1992, stole his car, then drove the car to Fresno to use it in a drive-by shooting. For this he was justly sentenced to death, and the judgment has been upheld on both direct appeal and state habeas corpus.

Despite Gascón’s defection, there appeared to be a strong chance of stopping his intended miscarriage of justice until the murderer-friendly California Legislature came to his aid. Continue reading . . .