Democrats must find a balance between safety and justice

Democrats must find a balance between safety and justice

By James Hohmann

Columnist|

Yesterday at 8:00 a.m. EST

Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, began his statement this way after a Wisconsin jury acquitted self-styled vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse: “It’s disgusting and disturbing that someone was able to carry a loaded assault rifle into a protest against the unjust killing of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man,” he wrote.

At least part of Maloney’s statement was accurate: Rittenhouse never should have gone near Kenosha, Wis., much less carrying an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon, with which he killed two people and wounded a third.

The rest of Maloney’s comment, however, was a thick gumbo of error: Blake was, in fact, armed during his confrontation with police, and he was not killed. Not even the “protests” could really be called “protests” by the time Rittenhouse got there; by then, it was more like a riot. Looting and rioting had prompted a curfew. The governor had deployed the National Guard to protect firefighters trying to put out blazes.

Story continues below advertisement

Maloney’s sloppy post-verdict take was a reminder that Democrats still struggle to find their footing in the no man’s land between safety and justice. Success in upcoming elections could well depend on Democrats forging a common sense middle ground between voters who justifiably worry about crime and those who understandably fear police brutality and vigilantism.

But is anyone in the party even thinking in these all-for-one terms?

The perception that the Democrats have somehow become too soft on crime — less than 30 years after their landmark 1994 crime bill — may have been strengthened this week following the carnage at the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wis. It’s impossible to overstate how angry many Wisconsinites are that Darrell E. Brooks Jr. was released from jail on a $1,000 bond just five days before he allegedly killed six people with his SUV.

Story continues below advertisement

Brooks, who has a lengthy rap sheet, was charged on Nov. 3 with assaulting and then running over the mother of his child, sending her to the hospital. Last year, he was charged with firing a shot at his nephew and another person after getting into a fight. He pleaded not guilty in both of those pending cases.

The office of Milwaukee County’s (Democratic) district attorney said the $1,000 bail was “inappropriately low” and that a review is underway to figure out how it happened. It’s become fashionable lately in mostly blue jurisdictions such as California, Illinois and New Jersey to limit or even eradicate cash bail because of fears that it disproportionately keeps minorities locked up.

Follow James Hohmann‘s opinionsFollow

But jail (usually before a trial) is different than prison, and Brooks was clearly a dangerous suspect who should have stayed behind bars pending trial. That is partly why his bail is now set at $5 million. Why is it almost taboo for Democrats to resist efforts to eliminate cash bail and still be against unreasonably long prison terms for nonviolent offenders?

Story continues below advertisement

A rebalance seems overdue. It is already clear that the “Defund the Police” movement was the wrong ask of communities in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Even in that deeply blue city, voters rejected a ballot measure this month that would have replaced the police force with a new entity that would include social workers — and, “if necessary,” policemen — to take a “comprehensive public health approach” to fighting crime.

Americans typically admire cops and depend on the security they provide. But Democrats have nonetheless emerged from the past two years looking anti-cop and squishy on law enforcement. That is not safe ground — in more ways than one.

How to change the perception? It’s ironic but accurate to say that the undisputed champion of the synthesis between safety and justice sits in the White House. It was Joe Biden’s crime bill, now famously vilified by liberals, that married putting 100,000 more cops on the streets with programs such as “midnight basketball” that took young men off the streets and gave them something to do. It created funding for low-level drug courts for marginal offenders — and built new prisons for really bad actors. Many in Biden’s team worked on that measure; my bet is that, with a little prodding, and a new generation of Democrats helping, they could be convinced to build a much better bridge between voters’ fears of crime and community fears of police brutality and injustice.

Story continues below advertisement

One reason to find the middle ground, and fast, is so that vigilantes like Rittenhouse don’t try to fill the void with a crude, impossible-to-police, justice of their own.

Finally, Democrats have one other piece of homework to do. What many don’t seem to understand is that very few policemen are like Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis cop who was rightfully convicted of murdering George Floyd. Most officers are good people who are doing their level best to keep us safe. This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for them.