A tale of two cities
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Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates
Ed Driscoll: YES, THAT’S THE IDEA: Charlotte Sheriff Gripes That Iryna’s Law Is Likely to Overcrowd Jails.
Talk about having your priorities completely out of order. The sheriff for the North Carolina city that became infamous for the race-fueled, deadly stabbing of Iryna Zarutska is angry that so many crimes are occurring in his city, but not for the reason you’d think.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden complained that Iryna’s Law will overcrowd the jails. He said this days after another train stabbing. So it would seem he has no issue with criminals sticking knives into innocent victims, so long as they don’t fill up his jail. Talk about a sheriff unfit for duty. To make the situation even more shameful, the sheriff whined about how many people saw the video of Iryna getting stabbed and acted as if the judges that social media users criticized were more worthy of pity than Iryna.
Sheriff McFadden acted as if Iryna’s grisly death at the hands of serial criminal Decarlos Brown Jr. — simply because she was white — were somehow a plot to make his life difficult. “And we believe that the only reason that this caught national attention is because it was caught on video and it was displayed across the United States, and our local politicians at that time saw it was a political agenda, or they could highlight her as a refugee and not an immigrant,” he griped at a press conference. “This is why they created Iryna’s Law.”
And boy, is he angry that criminals will be sent to jail instead of being allowed to roam free and commit crimes over and over and over. You see, Iryna’s Law imposes stricter penalties for violent offenders and repeat offenders before pre-trial release, in some cases preventing them from pre-trial release altogether.
After trying to gin up sympathy for the woke judges, McFadden then turned to commiserating with the families of criminals, whose repeat offender or violent offender relatives will be staying in jail where they belong. “So when people say, 'Well, is that gonna cause a problem for your staff?' Of course, it is. Why? Because my staff is not gonna be subject to having to deal with people with much more mental health problems than we had in the past. Or we're gonna be dealing with families who will not understand why their loved ones are not being released,” the sheriff ranted.
Sheriff McFadden is the latest leftist to stumble into the world of Fox Butterfield: “‘The Butterfield Effect’ is named in honor of ace New York Times crime reporter Fox Butterfield, the intrepid analyst responsible for such brilliantly headlined stories as ‘More Inmates, Despite Drop In Crime,’ and ‘Number in Prison Grows Despite Crime Reduction,’ not to mention the poetic 1997 header, ‘Crime Keeps on Falling, but Prisons Keep on Filling.’”
VS
Baltimore sees staggering crime drop as Democratic prosecutor holds repeat offenders accountable
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates says the days of going easy on repeat offenders are over.
The Democratic prosecutor is promising accountability after years of violent crime in the city, crediting a tougher stance on gun crimes and repeat offenders for a sharp drop in homicides and shootings.
"We realized it’s about the victims," Bates told "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, responding to questioning about soft-on-crime policies adopted by other Democratic prosecutors.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade contrasted Bates’ approach with that of progressive prosecutors in other areas, noting that some legal philosophies emphasize leniency toward marginalized communities in an effort to address systemic inequities.
FWIW: And this is exactly the point that’s been hammered on here (and most all conservative sites) for years — letting black criminals loose to prey on new black victims is not serving the black community:
"A number of the victims within the community were also minorities and African Americans, and they have a right to be safe and free in their house," Bates said.
"We wanted to make sure that everybody, didn't matter your race, didn't matter where you're from, everybody has a right to be safe, and it wasn't a Democrat issue, it wasn't a Republican issue, it was a people issue. At the end of the day, there were too many murders, too much violence, and we needed to make a change."
Bates said his office’s crackdown on repeat violent offenders and illegal gun crimes helped drive a 22% drop in homicides compared to last year.
For him, the strategy is simple:
"Hold violent repeat offenders accountable, especially with illegal handguns. We had too many murders, 300-plus murders for eight years straight. That's a terrible number to have," he said.
We invoke the mandatory minimum that allows it under the law: five years without the possibility of parole. There's no discretion.
"If you lock up violent repeat offenders, you hold them accountable. We invoke the mandatory minimum that allows it under the law: five years without the possibility of parole. There's no discretion. The judge must give a violent repeat offender five years…. When you send those individuals to jail, the community is safer at that moment in time, and they can get themselves together, but they will be held accountable."
Data from the Baltimore Police Department shows 2,129 repeat violent offenders have been sent to prison under the new strategy – double the number under the previous administration.
At the same time, 64% of homicide cases have been closed, 44% of non-fatal shooting cases have been closed and non-fatal shootings have dropped by 19%.
Homicides fell 23% by the end of 2024 (201 vs. 261 in 2023) and non-fatal shootings dropped 34% (414 vs. 635). BPD also reported clearance rates above national averages in several categories.