Don't even dare think of emulamating New Yawk!

Sometimes a single statistic makes it obvious that a public policy has been an utter failure. Just look at New York City.

The Big Apple is experiencing a big increase in robberies. The number of shoplifting reports has doubled over the past five years, hitting around 64,000 last year. Only 34 percent of those complaints resulted in an arrest. That's down from 60 percent in 2017. From 2019 to 2022, thefts of items worth less than $1,000 at major retailers increased by more than 50 percent. The number is likely much higher given that not all such crimes are reported.

But consider this stunner: Last year, NYC police, in aggregate, arrested 327 people more than 6,000 times for shoplifting. These few hundred people accounted for almost a third of all shoplifting arrests. Imagine how many times they never got caught.

Some criminal justice reform efforts make sense. People shouldn't have their lives ruined because of a single lapse in judgment. Impoverished suspects shouldn't lose their jobs because they're forced to sit in jail when they can't make bail. Those who have paid their debt to society deserve the opportunity at a second chance.

But simply ignoring or excusing certain offenses and behavior is a recipe for anarchy, as is allowing repeat offenders to prey on victims without consequence over and over again. Yet that's the attitude prevailing among New York City's political elite and many progressives.

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In many major urban areas, including New York City, leftist prosecutors refuse to prosecute certain crimes. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has made headlines for his arrest of former President Donald Trump. But he's made news before. When he came into office, he issued a memo laying out a slew of crimes for which he said he would not seek jail time.

The message couldn't be clearer — and more destructive to a healthy community. Probation or a slap on the wrist may be appropriate for a first-time shoplifter. But simply turning a blind eye to repeat instances of this anti-social behavior will lead only to more such behavior and a degradation of living standards in neighborhoods.

Common-sense criminal justice reform doesn't involve "defunding" the police, handing repeat criminals a "get out of jail free" card, normalizing anti-social behavior or turning a blind eye to victims. Nor does it downplay the importance of public safety. Yet too often that's exactly what progressives have in mind.

Catch and release doesn't work. Ensuring that repeat shoplifters knew there would be consequences for their actions could have mitigated the damage — and changed the incentive structure for would-be criminals.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• Where have all the nation's college students gone?
• Soft-on-crime policies hit hard wall of political reality
• Joe Biden and Monty Python is no comedy
• Global warming was supposed to wreak havoc on polar bears. Looks like someone forgot to tell the polar bears