Monthly Archive: March 2021

The San Francisco Department of Elections has cleared the way for a campaign to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.  Evan Symon of the California Globe reports that the campaign will need to gather at least 51,000 signatures in order to get the recall before San Francisco voters.  Boudin was elected District Attorney in 2019.  Prior to his election, his only job as a practicing lawyer was as a deputy in the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.  Recall proponents cite Boudin’s reluctance to prosecute criminals in numerous crime catagories which they claim has led to increased crime, including a 46% increase in burglaries, and an increase in robberies.  Earlier this week a San Francisco television reporter was robbed in broad daylight while broadcasting live.

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Many large U.S. cities are experiencing a spike in violent crimes, the question is what is causing this? Although there are many elements that likely have a role in the increase, one reason offered here is the lack of officers to deter crime by their presence and to respond to critical calls. In an article written this morning by Cameron McWhiter of the Wall Street Journal, there are statistics and statements from residents of Atlanta, Georgia that offer an explanation. From their perspective the negative picture presented and pushed about law enforcement officers in protests last year has impacted their communities. One resident of Atlanta, Lauren LeNoir was attacked and her purse stolen in her driveway this January, she stated, “They’ve stolen something I cannot get back, and that is my sense of security.” This is a common sentiment shared by many residents of Atlanta. Some have formed groups to make plans for the future to feel safe again. According to McWhiter, “Some Buckhead residents are so alarmed by the crime wave that they have launched a committee to explore seceding form Atalanta, which would mean having its own police department.” 

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Dzhokbar Tsarnaev, one of two radical Islamic terrorists who set off pressure-cooker bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon killing three and injuring 264, and then murdered an MIT police officer during his attempted escape, is suing the federal Bureau of Prisons.  CBS News reports that Tsarnaev is claiming that his treatment at the federal supermax prison in Colorado violates his First, Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights.  Last year a panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his death sentence ruling that the jurors were not properly screened.  SCOTUS is currently pondering whether to review the government’s appeal of that ruling.

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Every once in a while someone makes a short statement that precisely captures the absurdity of the times.  Rep. Jim Jordan did that yesterday with this tweet:

My friend Sean Kennedy, a visiting fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute, has the specifics about how America’s unprecedented murder spike in 2020, fueled in part by coerced police pull-backs and partial de-funding, has brought catastrophic economic damage to those least able to withstand it.  As Sean sums it up:

[T]he crime tax costs jobs, reduces property values, deters investment, and undermines trust in public institutions  —  and, destroying opportunity, dashes hope for those who need it most….Crime may not pay but it certainly costs, a lot. Economically struggling Americans need relief, so let’s start by cutting the most regressive tax of all—violence.

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