Why Excusing Crime is Wrong and Dangerous

And why Democrats will lose if the crime wave continues

My orders from Amazon arrived on time, but when I saw photos and videos of debris and cardboard littering the rail tracks in Los Angeles County, California, I realized there are a lot of people who won’t get their packages.

The pictures reminded me of storm debris footage following a natural disaster, only this disaster is a human one. Vandals and thieves have been breaking into locked train cars to steal the merchandise they want and dispose of what they don’t want by ditching it along the tracks.

And evidently this is a recurring problem.

Union Pacific, one of the country’s largest railroad companies, complained last month in a letter to the Los Angeles District Attorney that there had been a 160% year-over-year increase in theft in LA county. The company blamed lax prosecution of crimes and floated the idea that it may even stop operating in Los Angeles County.

Crime spikes aren’t just affecting the Union Pacific railroad in LA.

Crime statistics indicate that 2020 saw the largest increase in homicides since the bureau began tracking those numbers in 1960.

ABC news reported in December that a dozen U.S. cities had set homicide records in 2021.

Along with, looting, storming the capitol, shootings, stabbings, shoving people in front of subways and general everyday incivility, train tracks littered with debris seem like one more indication that our country is descending into chaos and anarchy.

A lot of people are weighing in on the blame game. They mention the pandemic, unemployment, homelessness, laxity in criminal prosecutions, lenient sentences, no-bail release policies, drug abuse, and poverty.

Robert Boyce, retired chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, told ABC news that “Nobody’s getting arrested anymore.” According to Boyce, people are getting picked up for gun possession and then let out over and over again.

With murders, smash-and-grabs and railroad thieves, the United States is starting to resemble the Wild West.

It’s discouraging that comments on social media reflect less regard for crime victims than for perpetrators.

Sentiments like the ones expressed in the above Twitter posts justify criminal activity by taking away the burden of personal responsibility. You would need to examine the motives of each individual criminal to discover the underlying reasons behind that person’s criminal activity, but in the short term this would do nothing to protect people from lawlessness.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admits she doesn’t know where the crime spikes are coming from.

Regardless of the reasons for the increase in criminal activity, Pelosi is right about this: it has to stop. Current conditions indicate a breakdown of the sort of ethical, moral behavior that engenders respect for life and compassion for others. When these values break down, freedom is at risk.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandela

Protecting businesses and people from criminals who prey on them is an essential role of government. And because Democrats are currently in control, they will suffer in the next elections if they don’t get crime under control. They might not deserve the blame, but they will get it.

Politicians can address homelessness, drug abuse, and the criminal justice system for the long term. But in the short term, they must get criminals off the streets and do something to stem the tide of crime.

People won’t tolerate the rights of law breakers taking precedence over the rights of law-abiding citizens, and if Democrats don’t get a handle on this, they are going to lose.