The Wall Street Journal offers an editorial noting that the Democratic City Committee voted not to endorse Philly DA Larry Krasner for reelection. The editorial also mentions Philadelphia Weekly and quotes challenger Carlos Vega from my Crime Beat column.
Prosecutors promising easier bail and fewer criminal
prosecutions have swept to power in several big cities in recent years, but a
backlash may be underway as crime spikes. Witness last week’s developments in
Philadelphia.
On March 31 the Democratic City Committee voted not to
endorse incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner for May’s primary election.
He won in 2017 after denouncing the city’s police and prosecutors as “both
systemically racist” and has spent his time in office touting his efforts “to end
mass incarceration” by bringing fewer charges and urging lighter sentences.
But Mr. Krasner now faces a primary challenge from Carlos
Vega, a former homicide prosecutor whom he fired.
In December 2020, Mr. Krasner
filed 525 charges for violent crimes, compared to 757 in December 2017, the
month before he took office. The decrease doesn’t reflect a safer city; nearly
500 people were murdered in Philadelphia last year, compared to 315 in 2017.
Last year saw more than 2,200
shootings, and the vast majority of victims were black. Auto thefts have risen
sharply, with some 9,295 vehicles stolen last year compared to 5,694 in 2017.
“Victims are an inconvenient truth that Larry ignores,” Mr. Vega told Philadelphia Weekly in December. “He never talks about the victims.” Mr. Vega says he’s running “to make our city safer.”
You can read the rest of the piece via the below
link:
You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Carlos Vega via the below link:
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