New York Mayor Eric Adams’ response to the plague of theft/shoplifting in the city has been anemic: “diversion programs” for non-violent offenders, training retail workers in de-escalation, and “resource kiosks” inside stores. The kiosk will direct “community members who are prone to crime like shoplifting” to “critical government resources and social services.” Good luck with that.
It’s right out of the Monty Python sketch on the Spanish Inquisition: “Hit him with the cushy pillow.”
In Seattle, crime became so intolerable that voters elected Republican Ann Davison as City Attorney in late 2021. She found that like in New York, a small group of just 166 troublemakers were each responsible for an average of 6.3 misdemeanor referrals for prosecution. In the last 16 months, she has cracked down and put 142 of Seattle’s 168 top recidivists behind bars at some point. The number of annual misdemeanor referrals from this lot has dropped to 2.7.
Seattle proves that using jail time and enforcing bail requirements works to contain crime and restore civic order. How long will it take for Mayor Adams to realize that “kiosk liberalism” isn’t going to do the job?
https://www.nationalreview.