Why California Took So Long To Crack Down On Crime

Years of lawlessness may, finally, come to an end — no thanks to Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris

Thank you to Bari Weiss and the Free Press team for commissioning and editing this piece!

And thank you to all of you who subscribed recently and sent kind notes about your reactions to the recent elections. Many of you said you have started to have hard conversations with friends and family, including those who lost their minds over the last few years. I’m so glad to hear it. — MS

Over the last quarter century, progressives argued that we should decriminalize drugs, stop enforcing laws against nonviolent crimes, and radically reduce the number of people in prison. This softer approach to crime, addiction, and homelessness was demonstrably more effective and compassionate than tougher models, they said. Hundreds of articles, books, documentaries, TV segments, and fact sheets all buttressed this worldview. 

We all needed more empathy for those committing crimes, more empathy for drug dealers, the activists said, and soon the politicians did, too. In that frenzy of compassion, it wasn’t the criminals who were demonized, but the victims.