The STUPIDEST Solutions to the Soft-On-Crime Catastrophe

Progressives are seeing their soft-on-crime policies explode in their face. Mainstream media outlets have been trying to gaslight Americans into thinking everything is just fine with crime. Welcome to America Uncovered, I'm Chris Chappell. Progressives are seeing their soft-on-crime policies explode in their face. And I mean that figuratively and literally. After enacting progressive policies that reduced penalties and cut police forces, all in the name of racial justice, Democrat-controlled cities are seeing rampant open drug use, carjackings, retail theft, violent crimes, and jaywalking. We live in a society, people. Rules are all that separate us from beasts. Things have gotten so bad that many businesses have permanently closed their doors because of crime. Yet for years, mainstream media outlets have been trying to gaslight Americans into thinking everything is just fine with crime. Even though the public has seen the reality with their own eyes. These outlets say things like it's a stretch to link crime to Democrats, and that crime is down. Is there a criminal just off screen forcing you to say that blink twice if you need help? NBC says people are wrong to think that the US crime rate is rising. Axios claims violent crime rates are generally down across the board. And Politico reports that blue cities are pushing these harsher policies even as crime has ticked down significantly nationwide. Harsher policies. What, instead of doing nothing to people, openly smoking fentanyl next to a playground? Now they're going to shoot a disapproving glance? Harsh. The media is leaving a lot out on their assessments of crime. First, they're simply relying on reports of crimes, not the actual number of incidents. Many people and retailers have simply given up on reporting crimes, because often nothing happens as a result. Also, while it's true that violent crime has inched downwards from last year, it's still higher than 2019 levels. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, most violent offenses remained elevated in 2023 compared to 2019, the year prior to the outbreak of Covid and the widespread social unrest of 2020. There were 18% more homicides in the study cities in 2023 than 2019, and carjacking has spiked by 93% during that period. So when it comes to violent crime, the only thing going down are the victims who are 6 feet under. And there's a reason why it seems like crime is down from last year. That's because when it comes to actually tracking crime, the records we do have are unfortunately pretty murky. Thanks to how the FBI changed the way it tracks crime data, it royally messed up nationwide reporting. You see, a few years ago, the FBI decided to completely change how it tracks crime. And it turns out many cities and jurisdictions aren't in compliance with the new system, meaning we're missing important crime data. Because a lot of crime is up. Like subway attacks in New York City. These are the worst crimes involving a subway since Jared. But the response has been insane. This New York Times piece tried to blame car manufacturers for the rise in carjackings because their cars are too easy to steal. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson actually sued automakers Kia and Hyundai for car thefts. But what are Chicago officials doing to actually stop the criminals stealing the cars? Who knows? We've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas. Washington, D.C., likewise, has had a pretty ridiculous response to carjackings and theft in general. Their solution to carjackings and theft? Handing out air tags. When residents are advised to put trackers in winter jackets due to theft, you know, maybe it's time for a change. Keep in mind that this doesn't really prevent theft. It's just easier to recover stolen goods after the fact. But here's a solution from my very own New York City. Is it to prosecute crime? No. New York City's solution to shoplifting is by putting social service kiosks in stores. What do these social service kiosks do? They connect would-be thieves to critical government resources and social services. Wow, who knew that all it took to stop thieves is to offer social services at a kiosk in a mall? I'm sure the moment criminals lay their eyes on these kiosks, they'll drop what they're doing and realize they need help. It's totally how criminals think. And that's not all. To top it off, New York also believes that giving first-time offenders intervention programs instead of prosecution will help prevent shoplifting. But it's not just New York. Here's what San Francisco is doing in their BART transit system. Their solution? To offer intervention cards to others to help stop harassment. It's even dumber than you think. The cards come in two types. A You Got Me card, and a I Got You card. So this card over here is for when you're being harassed. It says, you got me? So you'd hand it to somebody else, and it gives them instructions on how they can help you. If you see someone being harassed, you can also give them this I Got You card, which gives them instructions on the back to find the BART police, or call someone, or more instructions on how to be safe. So BART's solution is pretty much just admitting they absolutely cannot control crime at all. Instead, now it's the responsibility of the paying riders to deal with crime. I'm sure San Francisco residents are thrilled their tax dollars are going to print out cards so they themselves can deal with crime. Brilliant. Problem is, progressives are afraid that any effort to crack down on crime would disproportionately affect certain people more than others. The idea of arresting a lot of criminals who happen to be of a certain identity really bothers people, even if those arrested really did commit crimes. That's why we saw a surge in progressive soft-on-crime policies after George Floyd's death as a way to promote racial justice. Despite clearly seeing the public's pushback to soft-on-crime policies, some representatives want to dig their feet in even deeper, and oppose any idea that might actually result in less crime. New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Hestay is one such representative, and refused to back a law that cracks down on violent shoplifters. He actually said, I just don't believe raising penalties is ever a deterrent to crime. Well, not punishing them doesn't really seem to be working out too well, because Hestay's district is dealing with a massive surge in rape and robbery. Government officials need to focus less on coming up with useless policies that prioritize criminals over victims, and focus more on coming up with things that actually prevent crime, before the consequences of their actions blow up in their faces, figuratively and literally. Speaking of crime, check out my new show Deep Thoughts While Gaming, where I hide controversial topics in gaming content. This week, I'm talking about RimWorld, a game where you can commit heinous crimes. And click on that orange button to support America Uncovered for as little as a dollar a month. It really goes a long way in helping us out. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching America Uncovered.