Crime in Reformed Cities

With the help of George Soro’s bottomless checkbook and the relentless “police are racists” drumbeat of Black Lives Matter, several large U.S. cities have embraced “criminal justice reform” by electing District Attorneys willing to use their office as an instrument of social justice.  George Gascón, recently elected District Attorney of Los Angeles, is in the running to become the most renown of these reformers.  In a piece in The Hill, journalist Rafael Mangual, notes that Gascón’s platform like those of other reform-minded District Attorneys “read as if they were written by those vying to be public defenders.”  He has announced that his office will simply not prosecute misdemeanors such as driving without a license or resisting arrest.  Arrestees for any crime up to murder, will not have to make bail, but will be released to rehab until trial, and at those trials, habitual criminals, even those with violent priors, will be treated like first-time offenders.

Gascón implemented similar policies when he was the DA in San Francisco and things worked out well.  Murders, car burglaries and theft related crime increased significantly,  as the streets turned into open sewers littered with drug needles, feces and garbage.  This must be the goal of those who support criminal justice reform.  The quality of life in other cities with progressive District Attorneys has also deteriorated.  In Eric Gonzalez’s Brooklyn, murders are up by over 64%, with shootings up 125%.  Things are not much better in Kim Foxx’s Chicago where homicides have risen by 55% and shootings are up 54%.  An increase in shootings in the Windy City, which has been a warzone for years, is quite an accomplishment.  Reformer Larry Krasner’s Philadelphia has suffered 464 murders so far this year, an increase of about 40%.  Murders in Philly have increased every year since Krasner, a former defense attorney, was elected District Attorney.  In Houston, with District Attorney Kim Ogg in charge, murders are up 37%, while with Kim Gardner heading up the DA’s Office in St. Louis, murders are up 34% with shootings increasing by 20%.  Manqual closes by asking “exactly how bad will crime and disorder be allowed to get before the movement realizes that proactive policing of high-crime areas, and the incapacitation of violent and repeat offenders, are essential to urban crime control?”

With Black Lives Matter managing a narrative that is broadcast without scrutiny by the national media, crime is going to have to get really, really bad.