The House Judiciary Committee released a report Wednesday detailing how “soft-on-crime policies” from prosecutors in Democrat-run cities make citizens pay a steep price.
The report features the policies of District Attorneys Alvin Bragg of New York County and Larry Krasner of Philadelphia, State Attorney Kim Foxx Of Cook County, Illinois, and U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves of Washington, D.C., which include bail “reform” and not prosecuting low-level crimes. The Committee also spoke with victims and law enforcement for first hand accounts of the cost of such policies.
“The Committee and Subcommittee’s oversight has shown how rogue prosecutors in Democrat-run jurisdictions are advancing radical pro-criminal policies that harm public safety,” the report read. “From District Attorney Alvin Bragg in Manhattan to District Attorney Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, these activist prosecutors are prioritizing criminals over the communities they serve. Witnesses before the Committee and Subcommittee gave candid and emotional testimony about how the failures of these rogue prosecutors to enforce the law have affected their lives and their communities.” (RELATED: Councilmember Rips His Own City For Axing Gunshot-Detection System After Massive Delay In Shooting Response)
Bragg implemented his “Day One” memo when he came to office in 2022, which included refusing to prosecute trespassing crimes, resisting arrest and prostitution, softening punishments for armed robbery and refusing to sentence criminals to over 20 years of prison time, with some exceptions, according to the report. Bragg had a 51% conviction rate in felony cases, down from 68% in 2019, and the misdemeanor conviction rate plummeted to 29% in 2022 from 68%.
A San Mateo County Sheriff deputy lets in FBI agents to investigate the crime scene after shooting at the Spanish Town shops in Half Moon Bay, California, January 24, 2023. (Photo by SAMANTHA LAUREY/AFP via Getty Images)
Jose Alba, 61, defended himself from an attacker at his convenience store in 2021, but Bragg charged him with second-degree murder despite surveillance footage showing a clear case of self-defense, according to the report. Public outrage, which included former New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, led to the charges being dropped.
“I still don’t know why I was charged with murder. I believe that law enforcement and the DA’s office didn’t investigate the case fully. They rushed to judgment, and I suffered because of it,” Alba testified. “Even though the charges were ultimately dropped, they should not have been brought against me to begin with. I am now traumatized from the incident. I am not working because I am terrified for my life that someone in the gang will come after me for revenge.”
In Chicago, Foxx dismissed over 25,000 felony cases in her first three years since taking office in 2016, with such cases including murder, sex crimes and assaults on police officers, according to the report. She has also declined to prosecute high level violent crimes, including when she initially declined to press charges on gangsters in a shootout in West Side in 2021, but later charged one person with three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after public pushback.
Foxx also championed bail reform policies, which were criticized by Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot as letting 2,300 “violent and dangerous people” onto the street in 2021that included people charged with sexual assault, murder, kidnapping and carjacking, according to the report. Chicago arrested 133 people that year who were out on electronic monitoring pending trial for another violent crime, according to Lightfoot.
Carlos Yanez, former officer with the Chicago Police Department, was medically retired after he suffered gunshot wounds in a traffic stop in 2021, according to the report.
“Cook County has become a revolving door,” he told the Committee. “Officers continue to lock up violent offenders, but then we find them back on the streets committing even more violent crimes, including murder.”
Graves opted to not prosecute 67% of arrests in the D.C. Superior Court in 2021, compared to only 35% of cases declined in 2015 under former U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ronald Machen, according to the report. Graves, while not a district attorney, prosecutes crimes for the city in a similar capacity, however is not subjected to an election due to his position being a federal appointment.
Gaynor Jablonski, the owner of Valor Brewpub in D.C., recounted a time in 2023 when a man pointed a gun at his 4-year-old son in his restaurant, with Jablonski then wrestling the man, according to the report. The man was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, but D.C. prosecutors reduced the charges to attempted assault and carrying a pistol without a license.
“We could have a thousand new laws. We could have a thousand new police officers,” Jablonski told the Committee. “You could throw millions at this DA’s office. If nobody is going to do their job and prosecute and hold people accountable, what is the point?”
Krasner, after he took office in 2018 in Philadelphia, eliminated cash bail for crimes including retail theft and driving under the influence, and also declined to pursue charges for marijuana possession, possession of the opioid Buprenorphine and prostitution, firing prosecutors who refused to do his bidding, according to the report. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to impeach Krasner in 2022, but the Philadelphia Supreme Court ruled the articles of impeachment did not meet the constitutional standard.
“Police officers are afraid to do their jobs because Krasner is looking to hang every one of them,” Nick Gerace, a retired Philadelphia police officer, told the Committee.
Kranser, Matthew, Foxx and Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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