Vox: “Progressive Prosecutors” Are Working Within The System To Change It. How Is That Going?

It is a new progressive era.

Yes, how is Larry Krasner who is the most well known George Soros-backed “progressive prosecutor” in the country working out for Philadelphia?

Vox:

“Still, it was noteworthy when Larry Krasner — perhaps the most famous of all the “progressive prosecutors” elected in recent years — all but ensured his reelection when he won the Democratic primary this past May. Krasner was first elected to the office of district attorney in 2017, and this most recent victory sent a strong signal that Philadelphia voters want his reformist work to continue.

It’s notable that voters overwhelmingly — by more than 30 percentage points — rejected the “tough-on-crime” narrative of his opponent, Carlos Vega. But how long will that hold?

Krasner sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times over more than three decades as a civil rights attorney. He’s been outspoken in his assertions that law enforcement is “systemically racist.” …

Larry Krasner: Some of what we’re seeing now is unique to a pandemic. We never had a situation, during my career, where the Philly courts were closed more than four or five days because of snow. We have had the Philly courts essentially closed for 15 months, so I don’t think we should read too much into the moment. But how can we improve things?

Once we get the courts running again, we can get back to a lot of policies that were making good headway. We can get back to policies of not prosecuting people for sex work. Not prosecuting people for possession of marijuana. At many different levels, we can advocate for the kinds of legislation that we need to do things like get rid of cash bail. We can advocate for sensible legislation around elimination of the death penalty in Pennsylvania. We can work on the vast enhancement of diversion because the consequences of conviction are so stark in terms of disabling someone from participating in the economy.

So we have plenty to do, and we have people in the office who are very energetic and excited; that’s part of it. We’re not the movement. We don’t lead the movement, but we are technicians for it.

One of the biggest challenges we face is that people believe it’s impossible. You know, the system has convinced them that it’s impossible. You have to be truly extraordinary. You have to be exceptional. No, you don’t. You really don’t, you know. While we are well-intended, we are not perfect people; we are not even really extraordinary people. You can be an ordinary person. You can get inside of a monster like this, and you can make some real improvements with it. And you can also fail and get up the next day and keep trying. …”

Philadelphia is on track to smash its all-time homicide record. Homicide is up 35% in Philadelphia over this time last year which was the deadliest year in thirty years. Muh Black Lives Matter!

WHYY:

“At least 300 people have been murdered in Philadelphia so far this year, including nearly 30 children under the age of 18.

In the past, the grim milestone has served as an unofficial barometer for the city’s gun violence epidemic. Though no one celebrated it, ending the year with fewer than 300 murders was generally viewed as a positive, a sliver of encouragement that things might be going in the right direction.

With more than five months left in 2021, advocates say hitting that mark is a terrifying reminder of the unrelenting surge in gun violence gripping the city. It is also an indicator of the very real possibility that Philadelphia will set a new single-year record for homicides after coming incredibly close in 2020, the deadliest year in three decades. …”

Philadelphia now has the highest murder rate per capita in the country.

CBS Philadelphia:

“PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As of Thursday, the number of homicide victims in Philadelphia this year is up to at least 314 people. That’s up 35% from this time last year.

Philadelphia now has the highest murder rate in the country per capita of the country’s 10 largest cities. …”

“Progressive prosecutors” in Seattle, St. Louis and Chicago have also presided over a sharp rise in homicide.

ProPublica:

“All told, as 2020 came to a close, Philadelphia climbed toward an unimaginable figure: 500 homicides. It had reached that figure only once, in 1990, in the midst of the crack epidemic.

As stunning as that historical comparison was, it was hardly more disturbing than numbers for 2020 from elsewhere around the country. Some types of crime declined. It was, after all, harder to burgle houses when more people were at home. But homicides rose 30% on average across a sample of 34 of the nation’s largest cities by the Council on Criminal Justice.

Some of the biggest increases were in cities that had experienced high-profile killings by police, such as Minneapolis, where homicides doubled over their average of the previous four years; Louisville, where police officers shot Breonna Taylor and where criminal homicides set a record of 173, far above the previous high of 117; and Atlanta, where a police officer shot Rayshard Brooks after he grabbed his Taser in a Wendy’s parking lot, and where homicides jumped from 99 in 2019 to 157, the highest tally in more than two decades. Some of the biggest increases were in other cities with “progressive prosecutors,” such as Chicago, whose 780 killings represented an increase of more than 50%, and St. Louis, whose 262 homicides gave the city its highest homicide rate in 50 years. …”