Rantz: We’re making it easier for criminals to get away with criminality
Jason Rantz discusses elimination of traffic stops in Seattle and how it is permitting further car theft and crime on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
Democrats vowed to reimagine public safety in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the results of their experiment are in: we’re less safe.
It’s easy to see why they failed. They believe that criminals are the true victims, not the individuals who were robbed, assaulted, raped or even murdered.
In lieu of jail time, progressive prosecutors and judges have favored diversion programs framed through a "restorative justice" concept. They provide alternatives to incarceration, usually run by community nonprofits, that focus on treating the underlying cause of the criminal behavior. Instead of a judge or jury determining the fate of a criminal, community voices come together and decide what accountability might look like. The criminal can meet the person they wronged and help heal together.
CRIMINALS ARE TARGETING COPS AT HISTORIC LEVELS FOLLOWING CALLS TO DEFUND THE POLICE
Progressive prosecutors from Democrat-run cities, like Philadelphia, New York and Chicago, have adopted this approach, particularly with offenders under 26 years old. It’s meant fewer prosecutions and seemingly endless chances for juveniles to get on the right side of the law.
But when there are no consequences, offenders tend to commit more crimes. Combine these programs with low to no bail and the defunding of police, and you have a recipe for a crime surge.
Seattle/King County, where I live and work, is a good case study on how restoration justice fails. We’ve adopted all the left-wing solutions to the crisis, giving power to fringe nonprofits that promote police and prison abolition. It’s no wonder the crime crisis continues to worsen.
Jakwaun Shannon, 16, was placed into a restorative justice program after committing a series of dangerous crimes two years earlier. They included drive-by shooting, second-degree assault, attempted first-degree robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Is it a surprise that ideologues with a mission to abolish policing and prisons fail?
Shannon pled guilty in December 2020 to robbery and assault. In lieu of juvenile detention, he was tasked with finishing two restorative justice programs put on by Community Passageways and Creative Justice, which he started while court proceedings marched on.
One month later, Shannon was arrested again – while wearing a T-shirt that read, "No Youth Jail." Prosecutors charged him in connection with firing a gun at a woman in a car as he and friends tried to steal it.
As police investigated this crime, they tied him to another serious crime – one that allegedly occurred the night before. Police say he committed an armed robbery during which Shannon shot two victims. According to prosecutors, one lost a portion of her intestines and a kidney due to the gunshot wounds.
A Thin Blue Line flag is waved during a rally to stop defunding of the Seattle Police Department on Aug. 9, 2020 at Seattle City Hall. (Noah Riffe/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Should Shannon be given a chance at restorative justice when his original crimes were so violent?
Unfortunately, these programs have been purposefully overused by activists who have a fundamental belief that incarceration doesn’t stop criminal behavior. They further believe that these offenders turn to crime because they’re victims of societal inequities that society must address. Rather than rethink the strategy, officials have expanded its use over the objections of county mayors who blame this approach for the rise in crime.
Not every offender – juvenile or otherwise – belongs in jail. Depending on the severity of the crime and the offender’s past, society is better off rehabilitating someone out of jail, rather than in it. But offenders who are already committing violent crimes pose an exceptional risk to the public. Restorative justice programs, and their advocates, treat everyone as salvageable regardless of the circumstances of the crimes.
Residents may be willing to take a chance on a kid who steals a six-pack from a local convenience store. There’s no stomach for locking up that juvenile who can still get on the right path. Given that these kids usually come from broken homes, society owes it to them to help and if they re-offend without escalating their crimes, it’s worth the risk.
But if an offender is already violent, it’s too risky to hope they will be the exception to the rule that sees a high recidivism rate for violent crime. We should worry less about the criminal and more about their future victims.
Is it a surprise that ideologues with a mission to abolish policing and prisons fail? King County saw record-high violent crime in 2020 and 2021. It’s not an anomaly.
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The Cook County, Illinois, district attorney has released thousands of felony charges and oversees six different felony diversion programs. In 2020, the county saw the highest homicide rate in 30 years, with Chicago leading the way.
Thanks to the George Soros-backed Los Angeles County DA George Gascon, Los Angeles has led the way with soaring homicide rates. It comes after not just implementing a diversion program but expanding it despite the rise in crime.
Philadelphia, Portland, New York and other Democrat-run cities follow the same script.
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The progressive wing of the Democrat party is now in charge, and they view the police and the courts as systemically racist beyond repair. They promised to dismantle these so-called "systems of oppression" and install a new, left-wing approach to crime.
They’re succeeding in their efforts to reshape the system. They’re creating more victims and making our cities unlivable in the process.
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