Let us give thanks for small favors. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot reversed course and will once again prosecute misdemeanor thefts of necessary items between $100 and $750. This may not sound like a big deal, but it’s a victory over the progressive prosecutors – the Soros DAs, a group that includes Creuzot – who have been busy dismantling the criminal justice system in dozens of localities across the country.
Creuzot said he ended the policy not to prosecute these thefts because, he claimed, data shows the policy had no effect on crime, one way or the other. The nonprosecution policy, also implemented by progressive prosecutors elsewhere, is straight out of the abolitionist playbook. ‘Abolitionists’ are far-left crazies who want to abolish all police, criminal courts, and prisons. Like them, Creuzot believes in ‘decriminalizing poverty’ and ‘ending mass incarceration’, attitudes which led him to stop prosecuting misdemeanor theft. He also stopped prosecuting criminal trespass and misdemeanor marijuana cases.
In April, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton sent Creuzot a letter that hit the nail on the head, making the point I’ve made many times that progressive prosecutors are not authorized or entitled to tear up criminal statutes duly passed by their state legislatures. The letter states:
Reform is one thing. Actions that abandon the rule of law and that could promote lawlessness are altogether different. Texas law gives criminal district attorneys the duty to enforce the laws the Legislature writes… It grants no power to criminal district attorneys to categorically rewrite the law. Constitutionally, ‘reforming’ state law is the province of the Legislature.
Exactly, and not just in Texas. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted last week to impeach progressive Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for, among other things, his refusal to prosecute prostitution and retail theft. He also fired 30 experienced prosecutors. The consequences of Krasner’s insane policies are a sky-high murder rate, ubiquitous shootings on public transportation and near schools and, because of increasing retail theft, numerous businesses leaving the city. The impeachment vote is a first step in a process that could remove Krasner from office.
The progressive prosecutor in Baltimore asked the court to give an armed robber first offender treatment that could result in a clean record. The robber was set free and went on to shoot and kill a sheriff’s deputy.
Another thing to be thankful for is the fact resistance to the Soros DAs is growing and getting better organized. You might remember that progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin was recalled in San Francisco earlier this year. A progressive candidate just lost her race for a district attorney’s spot in Arizona. A new group, formed to fight progressive prosecutors at the ballot box, helped defeat a number of them around the country in the recent elections.
Good. The progressive prosecutors are trying to tear down the Rule of Law, tear down the economy, tear down the criminal justice system, and sow chaos throughout the land so people will clamor for left-wing authoritarians to keep them safe.
So let us give thanks and hope the trend against them continues.
