The Road to Hell

In the struggle to achieve racial justice, New York and California have set the pace for the rest of America.  Over the past several years the Governors, state legislatures and Attorneys General of both states have promoted and implemented criminal justice reforms attempting to create equal outcomes among “marginalized racial groups.”  To create equity both states have effectively decriminalized certain offenses deemed non-violent, such as selling illegal drugs on the street, using drugs, traffic offenses, drunk driving, most theft, vandalism, some domestic violence, assaults, resisting arrest and illegal firearms possession.  Bail has also been eliminated or sharply reduced for all but the most violent offenses including car theft, commercial burglary, strong armed robbery and vehicular manslaughter among others.  Progressives tell us that reducing the arrest, prosecution and punishment for these crimes is necessary because people of color are disproportionately targeted by America’s systemically racist criminal justice system for committing them.   This is the kind of one-dimensional reasoning children use.  New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exhibited it Monday, opining that the spike in crime in her state is because “the child-tax credit just ran out, on December 31st, and now people are stealing baby formula.”  She has 12 million followers on twitter.

This type of sentencing reform enabled the stalking and brutal stabbing murder of 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee in her Chinatown New York apartment last Sunday.  Habitual criminal Assamad Nash has been charged with stabbing Lee, whom he did not know, over 40 times as she fought for her life.  CBS News reports that Nash, who is homeless, was on supervised release for other crimes and has multiple arrests for assault, drugs, and harassment over the last two years.  There are no real consequences for those crimes in New York City.  At his arraignment Monday, Nash said “I didn’t kill nobody.”

On January 27, a young woman’s parents reported that their daughter had gone missing after leaving their suburban home for a walk.  Stan Stanton of the Sacramento Bee reports that five days later, detectives found the brutalized body of 20-year-old Emma Roark under a tarp by the American River in Rancho Cordova, CA.  She had been raped and tortured   Mikilo Rawls, who is homeless, was arrested after DNA tied him to the  murder.  Rawls, 37, has a prior conviction for burglary, and has recent arrests for illegal weapons, assault, receiving stolen property, and illegal drugs.  There are no real consequences for these crimes in California.  The Sacramento DA said she might seek the death penalty for Rawls even though California Governor Gavin Newsom is blocking its enforcement.

On January 13, a homeless man walked into a high-end furniture store in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park and stabbed a 24-year-old UCLA co-ed to death.  Rebecca Rosenberg and Michael Ruiz of Fox News report that Brianna Kupfer was working alone that afternoon when a habitual criminal identified as Shawn Laval Smith, 31, entered the store and attacked her.   Smith, who was on probation for a prior crime, had a warrant out for his arrest for assaulting a police officer, and had been arrested for shoplifting a Home Depot in Los Angeles County.  There are no real consequences for those crimes in California.

All three of the murder suspects in these cases were beneficiaries of progressive criminal justice reforms to restore racial equity.   When they got their second or third chances for committing their previous “low level” crimes, they moved on to violent crimes and three young women died horribly because of it.

Please, somebody explain why treating these repeat offenders with “compassion” was still justified in spite of the outcomes of these cases.