TOPLINE POINTS

• Progressive prosecutors undermine the rule of law and endanger the right of all Americans to peacefully live their lives in safe and secure communities.
• Progressive prosecutor policies have only worsened the rising crime rates and social dysfunction that has besieged much of the Nation.
• Communities should reject progressive decriminalization and lenient sentencing policies and demand a criminal justice system that holds perpetrators accountable and fundamentally values the victim over the criminal.

Introduction

The election of Left-wing progressives committed to the radical reformation of the criminal justice system into the positions of district attorney, state and local prosecutor, sheriff, and other authoritative offices within the broader criminal justice system represents a significant threat to public safety and the rule of law itself.

Not content with merely protesting the tough-on-crime policies of law enforcement officials from the sidelines, progressives in recent years have engaged in Trojan Horse-style campaigns to occupy these positions themselves, deceiving the public with reformist rhetoric that belied a far more invidious scheme to dismantle the criminal justice system and replace it with a new system predicated upon vague notions of social justice.

Social justice, in the context of the criminal justice system, is envisioned by progressives as the equity of outcomes through the disparate application or enforcement of the law.

In communities where progressives have successfully obtained powerful law enforcement positions, the public safety outcomes have been devastating, though wholly predictable. Crime rates—both violent and nonviolent alike—have risen dramatically, and the soft-on-crime approach advocated by progressives has likely contributed to making many areas of the country more dangerous than they have been in years.

Crime in America began to rise precipitously following the George Floyd protests in 2020, many of which devolved into rioting, violence, and looting.

Those events also spurred the ill-conceived and dangerous “Defund the Police” movement, which itself helped to usher into office a cadre of progressive prosecutors and politicians co-opting the message (Navarro et al 2020).    

Communities where Left-wing progressives have implemented dangerous pro-criminal, anti-victim policies offer an illustrative example of the immediate and ruinous impact that these policies can have on public safety. As such, they should be soundly rejected.

Fundamentally, the America First Policy Institute believes in upholding the rule of law as elemental to ensuring the rights of all Americans to enjoy safe and secure communities in which to live their lives in peace. Progressive prosecutors and their far-Left policies challenge this notion, as the following examples demonstrate.