Political | Process

Many of the 12 cities that experienced record levels of violence in 2021 moved over the past two years to cut police funding, overhaul law enforcement policies, or put fewer people behind bars.

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• But even some Democratic lawmakers have begun to rethink the reforms championed by activists as the number of homicides nationwide has climbed.

• The Biden White House has repeatedly attempted to distance its policies from the “defund the police” movement that some Democrats have come to view as harmful to their electoral prospects.

• Here are some of the liberal reforms that the 12 record-breaking cities implemented before they recorded their highest-ever number of murders.

• In some that did not specifically pursue left-wing policies, the national conversation around race and policing worsened structural problems, such as officer shortages, that experts say contributed to the rise in violence.

• Philadelphia broke its previous homicide record this year after surpassing the number of slayings the city recorded in 1990.

• The wave of violence came after the city’s liberal district attorney, Larry Krasner, implemented liberal prosecutorial reforms that led to fewer criminals going to prison and for shorter periods of time.

• Krasner scrapped cash bail for many low-level offenses and boasts on his website that over the summer, the county jail population dropped to its lowest level since 1985.

SOURCE: WASHINGTONEXAMINER