Prosecutors Must Put Victims First by JASON MIYARES There is a limit to what my office can do on our own. Public safety is a bipartisan issue and shouldn’t be controversial. Every Virginian — every American — wants At the legislative level, elected officials need to create laws to feel safe in their home, walking to their car, and living in that will crack down on violent crime and repeat offenders, and allow, rather than hinder, law enforcement officials to their community. Yet there are those who vocally turn their backs on law do their jobs. They need to support the law enforcement enforcement and reject programs that are proven to reduce officials who risk their lives every day, rather than shouting crime. Some local, far-left, liberal prosecutors refuse to to defund and vilify them. Activism at the community enforce the law and intentionally level is incredibly important to are soft on crime in the name of reducing crime as well. A big “social justice and equity.” part of the Office of the Attorney It might seem obvious, but General is organizing and in order to reduce crime, we also funding programs in partnership need to get the violent criminals with community leaders that are actually committing the crimes designed to prevent and reduce behind bars. This is why our gun and gang violence. These locally elected prosecutors are programs steer at-risk youth so important to public safety. But away from a life of crime and there are some locally elected help identify the bad actors. prosecutors who are choosing One of our challenges is not to prosecute groups of radical, liberal elites who are crimes, selectively choosing bankrolling the campaigns of pieces of the law to enforce and these far-left, weak on crime, pieces to ignore. activist district attorneys This warped version of Jason Miyares nationwide. A new report from criminal justice has created a Capital Research revealed that public safety crisis. In order nearly $30 million has been to fix it, law enforcement, There are some locally spent backing these radical community leaders, government elected prosecutors who are district attorney candidates in officials, and prosecutors must over 20 different communities. choosing not to prosecute work together. These prosecutors are This “criminal first, victim groups of crimes, selectively sending a message to criminals last” mindset only leads to more choosing pieces of the law to that there is no consequence for crime, more victims, and less breaking the law. It should be safety for our families. enforce and pieces no surprise that, consequently, The first step in addressing to ignore. crime increases. The Council Virginia’s decades high murder on Criminal Justice found that rate is to listen, learn, and in 2021, murders increased in apply proven solutions to our crime crisis. As Attorney General, I’m meeting with law every major city in the U.S. The idea that being lenient on violent criminals will enforcement officials in every corner of the Commonwealth to learn about their needs and community-specific struggles. create a more just society is both naive and counterintuitive. We’re creating innovative new programs to encourage Eliminating criminal justice is not criminal justice reform. The great irony is that the vast majority of the liberal collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement partners and community leaders to address the elites bankrolling this soft-on-crime agenda live in wealthy, gated neighborhoods and will never experience the crime surge in our local communities. 16
RIPON FORUM May 2022
