Awakening, Slowly

Earlier this month, Michael Rushford had this post on a San Francisco case where a habitual criminal killed two pedestrians in a hit-and-run. This Jan. 10 editorial similarly denounces the SF DA’s failure to keep this dangerous criminal locked up and his disingenuous attempt to blame the parole system. From the editorial (emphasis added):

His rap sheet dates back years, but the sum of the nightmare charges and past offenses match nearly every public grievance about rampant drug use, auto break-ins and burglaries, pedestrian safety, and the image of an ineffectual, spinning-door court system. The suspect didn’t deserve to be on the loose.

What is remarkable about this obviously correct statement is that it appears in an editorial of the San Francisco Chronicle, not a place we commonly see calls for tougher crime measures.

As a stampede of pro-lawlessness measures has run rampant through legislatures and a few urban prosecutors’ offices, we have expected that when enough innocent blood has been spilled people will wake up to what is really happening here. That change is coming, much too slowly, yet surely.