The U.S. suffers under a soft-on-crime wave among prosecutors

January 9, 2024

Many people today apparently do not understand the concept of law and order. Our country has a body of laws that were enacted to prohibit conduct that is harmful to the people and to our country.

When those laws are broken, our justice system provides for penalties to be imposed on the guilty. They teach the wrongdoer a lesson and serve to discourage people from indulging in the unlawful activities.

However, these penalties and deterrents only work when they are implemented as the law requires. 

Police and other law enforcement personnel have the duty to find those who have broken laws, and charge them with criminal offenses. Certain positions that are filled by election and by appointment exist to enforce these laws and to apply charges and penalties as appropriate, such as prosecuting attorneys and judges. 

These persons have the sworn duty to apply the laws without fear or favor. Today, and not for the first time, we find public officials who do not apply all of the laws that exist, and when they do, they are sometimes not done fairly.

An article in U.S. News last month explained that there was a tidal wave of progressive prosecutor victories several years ago that campaigned on policies that seek different types of penalties than now exist. These largely consist of counseling and treatment regimens, monetary fines, parole or community service, rather than jail time. 

“A Republican state attorney general is asking members of Congress to probe a Justice Department grant that he says benefits a ‘radically progressive’ group responsible for training prosecutors in ways to implement a soft-on-crime approach to their work,” a Fox News online report begins.

Letters to Congress were sent by Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey asking members "to further investigate and eliminate funding for programs that are counter-productive to public safety" and that "aid or encourage prosecutors to abuse discretion by refusing to bring criminals to justice."

In the letters Bailey described a situation where St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner, who he described as "a progressive soft-on-crime prosecutor," released a repeat criminal on bail. The man then hit a young girl with his vehicle at a high speed, resulting in her having her legs amputated.

After much criticism and evidence of dereliction of duty, Gardner resigned from the office.

A case in Austin, Texas, features District Attorney Joseph Garza. Roberto Rangel was arrested for his 7th DUI, that resulted in the deaths of two people in their early 20s. But Garza reduced the charges and bond amount, allowing Rangel back on the streets. 

One of the most notorious of these soft-on-crime prosecutors is Los Angeles County, California District Attorney George Gascon, who was elected in 2020 and is up for reelection this year.

After just one year in office, criticism of Gascon was so intense that a recall campaign was begun. While it failed, more than a half-million signatures have been collected for another recall.

Gascon now faces a challenge at the polls from an attorney that works in his office. John McKinney said Gascon “values the rights of offenders more than victims.”

He added that a lot of crime in Los Angeles County is “not committed out of desperation,” but because “people see an opportunity” due to the soft-on-crime atmosphere created by Gascon.

“We’re down 250 attorneys from what we’re budgeted for,” he said. “We have been handcuffed, gagged … and told to do things that are counterproductive and counter to justice. We’ve had enough. We want change.”

We have seen a dramatic and dangerous move away from holding people to account for their criminal behavior.

These idiotic ideas have produced a significant rise in crime in some cities and states. Victims are not being given the satisfaction of seeing those who have robbed them, assaulted them, damaged their property, or perhaps injured or killed a family member get the satisfaction of the guilty parties being punished.

People in important positions in the justice system don’t punish many instances of wrong-doing, but try to punish some people when they haven’t been convicted or even charged. These people also want to make things more difficult for law enforcement personnel and agencies, and even sometimes support closing down prisons.

And then there are those who use criminal prosecutions for ill. While former President Donald Trump may indeed be guilty of the crimes he allegedly committed years ago, why have those charges only been brought now as Trump seeks the presidency in 2024?

And why did the Maine Secretary of State — Shenna Bellows, a Democrat — decide that she is capable of determining guilt, and that she has the authority to determine that Trump is guilty of “insurrection,” even though he has not been found guilty of it in a court, or even officially charged with the crime?

If you don’t like some laws, you may work to change them, but you must not be allowed to ignore them. You must be required act properly when you are in an official capacity.

If the people are expected to honor the actions of public officials, then those officials must act honorably, legally, fairly and sensibly.

America’s crime wave is a direct result of liberal policies

One of the most serious and most common stories these days is that crime is rampant in many cities across the U.S. 

Twelve major cities have new homicide records. These cities are: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; Rochester, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; Toledo, Ohio; and Tucson, Arizona.

This high crime situation follows the violence-ridden summer of 2020, where people protested the killing of George Floyd by a police officer. There were riots and criminal activities in several cities, which also featured the popular, but baseless, claims of systemic racism and extensive police brutality against people of color.

This criminal activity is the direct result of liberal policies toward crime and criminals. Many of those in positions of power deliberately did not uphold the laws to protect both public and private property.

Author and activist Tammy Bruce released a book in 2003 titled, “The Death of Right and Wrong - Exposing the Left’s Assault on Our Culture and Values.” Looking at what is happening in America recently, she must be recognized for accurately seeing into the future.

Early in the book, Bruce wrote, “The Left has had to restrict individual freedom of thought and deed in order to destroy the concept of judgment and undermine notions of right and wrong that have been held nearly universally for millennia.”

The accuracy of her predictions is borne out by such plainly obvious foolishness as: 

• Defunding the police, where city boards have voted to cut funding for police departments.
• No cash bail for many crimes, where those arrested for the designated crimes are merely released into society after a court appearance.
• Prosecutors refuse to prosecute many crimes, which leaves perpetrators unpunished for their harm to society.
• *Suggestions by the soft-on-crime faction to close federal prisons.

Today, we see people whose duty is to uphold law and order by prosecuting criminals through the legal system deliberately not doing their job.

George Gascón may be the most notorious of the renegade prosecutors. Born in Cuba in 1954, he is now the district attorney of Los Angeles County. Prior to this, he was a practicing attorney and a police officer, and previously served as the district attorney of San Francisco from 2011 to 2019. 

To win his current position, Gascón defeated District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who had been targeted by Black Lives Matter as being pro-police. Lacey is the former San Francisco district attorney who “authored the controversial Proposition 47, which is being blamed for the violent crime wave in Los Angeles because it downgraded many felonies to misdemeanors,” according to the Washington Examiner. Gascón has dutifully followed in those footsteps.

To give some idea about his perspective on crime and criminals, Gascón once said that “arrest is traumatic and dehumanizing” to those arrested. A forthright prosecutor would understand the obvious reality that if you don’t want to be traumatized and dehumanized, don’t commit crimes. But not Gascón.

The predictable result of these policies is very symbolized by what happened at the Waukesha, Wisconsin Christmas parade.

The man accused of driving his SUV into participants and observers of the Christmas parade, killing six and injuring dozens of others, had a substantial criminal record, had been arrested days before, and was set free after paying a small bail fee.

Darrell Edward Brooks Jr, was arrested 21 days prior to the Waukesha attack for hitting his ex-girlfriend with his car during a domestic dispute. Charges for that case include second-degree recklessly endangering safety with domestic abuse assessments, a felony; disorderly conduct with domestic abuse assessments; misdemeanor battery with domestic abuse assessments; and obstructing an officer. He was released on only $1,000 bail two days before the Waukesha attack.

Police officers who are charged with upholding the laws, and arresting law-breakers are frustrated with the leniency being forced upon them. Los Angeles, California is a good example.

Last week, Jamie McBride, the head of the LA Police Protective League, which represents LAPD officers, told Fox 11 News that crime was a big problem in the city, and he would urge people to stay away.

“It is so violent, we are telling people don’t visit because we don’t think we can keep you safe right now,” he said.

Referring to the new lax policies, McBride said, “Right now, you can literally go out, do whatever you want, commit crimes, and you’ll be out [of jail] faster than the officers can finish the report,”

Rachael Rollins, whose nomination as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts was recently approved by the U.S. Senate, had a list of 15 crimes she thought should not be routinely prosecuted in her previous position, including trespassing, drug possession, disorderly conduct, minor in possession of alcohol and resisting arrest.

Yes, these are somewhat minor crimes. But failure to prosecute them is a dis-service to victims, and sends a bad message to the criminal element.

These soft-on-crime ideas are foolish in the extreme, and weaken the very foundations of our country. Ultimately, if not stopped, America will be destroyed from the inside, and turned into another failed country like Cuba and Venezuela. Restore our proven system and save America.