This month, we read of the extraordinarily outrageous story of a cancer survivor killed in a hit-and-run car crash allegedly perpetrated by a violent machete-wielding individual who had been arrested 45 times previously. How the hell is this happening in a civilized society?
The recidivism related to violent offenders has been rising to epidemic, unsustainable proportions.
One serial shoplifter was arrested a staggering 254 times.
This is all due to the new criminal justice mindset within our society, thanks to the prevalence of progressive, liberal Democratic legislators on the city and state levels. They are steeped in the critical race theory philosophy that preaches violent criminals are not responsible for their own actions, but rather are victims of a racist society.
This claptrap was epitomized by Bruce Harrell, the mayor of Seattle who, when asked his views on why a violent repeat offender was allowed to stay on the streets, responded that he’s not concerned that he was previously arrested numerous times for violent offenses, but was only concerned about what in this person’s life prompted him to do these things. His exact words were:
“When this person is committing six or seven crimes, I don’t know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they’re hungry. But my remedy is to find their life story to see how we can help. First, I have no desire to put them in jail, but I need to protect you, and that’s the calibration that we have.”
Well, if they want to play Psych 101 academic games, they’re free to do so, but please do it while these vicious violent offenders are not free roaming the streets.
Which brings us back to the concept of the “three strikes” law that was put in effect in many jurisdictions back in the 90s when crime was out of control. It was understood that people are deserving of a second and maybe a third chance, but at some point society itself must be protected and these repeat violent offenders must be given stiff minimum sentencing.
These effective laws, of course, were labeled as racist by the progressives, forcing even Joe Biden, the author of this legislation, to recant the laws he wrote.
There’s a consequence of voting for these progressives. People die unnecessarily. Let’s start protecting the innocent. The repeat offenders must be isolated from law-abiding citizens.
Will we see legislators in New York seeking to bring to the fore the “three strikes” laws once again?