With Progressive DA Gone, St. Louis Begins Crackdown on Criminals

Six months after Soros-backed progressive Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner resigned, new Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore has initiated a crackdown on crime, increasing prosecutions by 45%. Gardner, who refused to prosecute what she deemed “low level crimes” such as theft, assault and drug dealing, and even murders in the name of racial justice, quit her job last May before the state Attorney General could remove her from office. Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that Gore, a democrat and former Deputy U.S. Attorney, was appointed to replace Gardner by Republican Governor Mike Parson. He entered the prosecution office with a 6,700 backlog of pending cases including 250 murder cases. Gore almost immediately hired 24 attorneys to fill vacancies and strengthened the working relationship with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Since assuming office, the homicide backlog has been reduced by 53 cases and Gore’s deputies are reevaluating 24 killings that Gardner refused to prosecute. The city’s overall case backlog has been reduced by 2,500 cases. At a recent press conference Gore told reporters “There’s no type of crime that we are looking the other way on. We are enforcing the laws. We don’t accept the notion that as a citizen of the city of St. Louis you have to accept a certain amount of property crime, or what people would refer to as petty crime, as a cost of living in the city.”

Not everyone is thrilled with the new Circuit Attorney’s crackdown.  The Rev. Darryl Gray, a leading civil rights activist who also chairs a civilian-led jail oversight board, said St. Louis needs to focus on preventing crime before it happens, not what happens after. He said that since Gore took office the city jail has reached capacity. Over 90% of the jail’s 750-plus detainees are young Black men, Gray said. “We still have crime,” Gray said. “And until Gabe Gore and elected officials begin to talk about prevention, all we’re going to have are full jails.”

It seems clear that Gore, who is black, understands that one of the most effective crime prevention tools is strong and consistent enforcement of the law and real consequences for criminals.  It is a regrettable fact that young black men commit most of the crime in American cities. But the color of an offender’s skin should have no impact on whether or not he is held responsible for the crimes he commits. Gore, who has recently announced that he will seek election to remain in office next year, appears to believe that politics should not influence his effort to reduce crime in St. Louis.