House Judiciary Committee links Democratic policies to increased crime

An investigation by the House Judiciary Committee found that violent and nonviolent crime spiked in major Democratic-led cities following the “defund the police” movement and liberal “rogue prosecutors” downgrading or ignoring serious crimes.

The committee report on the findings details how, under the Biden-Harris administration, crime increased in major cities. The data contradicts claims by the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign that crime has fallen in the last three years.

The Washington Times exclusively obtained a copy of the report.

Democratic-allied groups worked to elect far-left prosecutors in cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and the District of Columbia, and those prosecutors and local leaders implemented policies or reductions in police funding that led to an uptick in violent and nonviolent crime, the report concluded.

“Citizens see, feel, and experience the continued rise in violent crime every day,” the report said. “Americans will not feel completely safe until local jurisdictions rethink their far-left, pro-criminal policies and stop prioritizing criminals over law-abiding citizens.”

The report was the product of field hearings conducted by the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance over the last two years in each of the cities. Lawmakers interviewed crime victims, law enforcement officials, advocates and residents in each city.

The Republican-led panel argued that when Democrats embraced the defund-the-police movement in 2020, it led to a major spike in crimes in subsequent years. For example, in New York, the police budget was slashed by $1 billion in 2020, and major crimes surged by 23% in 2022 compared to 2021.

In the District, the police budget was cut by $15 million in 2021. Two years later, the District saw a 39% increase in violent crime and a 24% increase in property crime when compared to 2022.

The report said far-left prosecutors pushed “pro-criminal policies” by refusing to prosecute certain categories of crimes like shoplifting or juvenile crime, failing to prosecute firearm offenses, systemically downgrading felonies to misdemeanors, and refusing to request bail for criminals.

The panel specifically pointed to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves in the nation’s capital, and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

The Times reached out to their offices for comment.

The GOP’s report also described how bail reform laws implemented in Democratic-led cities, which either eliminated cash bail altogether or significantly restricted the ability of state and local judges to impose constraints, created a “revolving door for criminals to reoffend.”

Those reforms, the reports said, led to high rates of recidivism in major cities that often strained already thin police resources. Illinois, for example, became the first state to eliminate cash bail with its SAFE-T law in 2023 after the state Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional.

The District eliminated cash bail in the early 1990s and has since seen roughly 94% of individuals with criminal charges not being detained before trial, according to the report.

Since holding the hearings, the committee has advanced or passed through the House a handful of bills directly related to its findings, including the Pretrial Release Reporting Act, the Recruit and Retain Act, and the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act. None have become law.

“It is clear that the root causes of the uptick in crime over the last several years are the pro-criminal policies implemented in major urban areas and the refusal of rogue prosecutors to enforce the laws on the books,” the report said. “The Committee and the Subcommittee will continue to conduct oversight of the rise in violent crime in the United States.”