The criminal-first, victim-last approach must end

By: Congressman Tom Tiffany

It’s no secret that violent crime is ravaging our country. Every single day, Americans turn on their TV after a long day of work to see another homicide, another smash-and-grab robbery, or another assault.

From 2019 to 2020, Wisconsin experienced a 62% increase in murders, and we are hardly alone. In 2021, twelve major Democrat-controlled cities broke annual homicide records, and just this year, homicide rates across the country have increased roughly 50% compared to this time in 2019.

This leaves many people scratching their heads. How did we get here? How did we go from crime being under control to drowning under a historic crime wave in the space of just three short years?

For that, we must retrace the steps of radical progressives during the “summer of love,” except a better name was perhaps the “summer of violence.” 

All of us remember the riots, looting, arson, vandalism, and lawlessness that gripped local communities during the summer of 2020. Business owners lost their livelihoods as opportunistic criminals torched their businesses, and law enforcement officers were assaulted as violent protestors unleashed havoc on major cities. In Kenosha, thirty businesses were damaged or destroyed. 

You would think that our elected officials who take an oath to uphold the law would have condemned these acts of violence and moved quickly to restore order. Unfortunately, you would be wrong.

Prominent left-wing politicians, including even Vice President Kamala Harris, announced their support for criminals taking American cities hostage. She even went so far as to help spring them out of jail. Other Democrat politicians quickly followed suit, amplifying the calls of extremists to “dismantle” and “defund” the police. Some, including Governor Tony Evers, sat idly by, allowing cities to descend into utter chaos while refusing the Trump administration’s offer to send in backup to help them regain control. 

In response, President Trump issued an executive order cutting off federal funding to state and local governments that refused to uphold the law — but President Biden reversed this directive almost immediately after being sworn into office. Many Democrat-run local governments — Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Chicago just to name a few — also took it upon themselves to follow through with vows to defund their police departments. Some state and local leaders took the mind-boggling step of loosening bail laws, and many woke prosecutors stopped holding habitual crooks accountable as a matter of policy.

Not surprisingly, crime rates surged. It turns out that giving criminals a “free pass” doesn’t deter predatory criminals, it emboldens them. And we are all now living with the real-life results. 

Just look at what happened in Waukesha when a soft-on-crime district attorney let Darrell Brooks — a repeat offender with a rap sheet replete with felonies and petty crimes ranging from statutory rape and resisting arrest to strangulation — out on low cash bail. The consequences were tragic: Over sixty people injured and six killed when he plowed his vehicle through a Christmas parade. This could have been prevented, but our criminal justice system failed courtesy of a rogue prosecutor.  

In fact, while Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm later called Brooks’ release “a mistake,” he also brazenly declared in 2007, “Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into treatment program, who's going to go out and kill somebody? You bet. Guaranteed. It’s guaranteed to happen.” He was correct, on both counts.

The human toll of these policies doesn’t stop at the local level. Governor Tony Evers and his Parole Commission, for example, are actively subverting the justice system and failing victims by allowing their perpetrators back onto our streets. According to Wisconsin Right Now, the Evers administration has released nearly 1,000 violent criminals, including over 270 murderers and attempted murderers and more than 44 child rapists. None of these releases were mandatory — and in fact many of these individuals were serving life sentences. Yet, the Evers administration chose to unleash them on our communities. The results? Sixteen of them have already re-offended or violated the terms of their parole.

This criminal-first, victim-last approach must end. Americans expect their leaders to protect our communities and hold criminals accountable for their heinous acts. That’s why I introduced the Combating Violent and Dangerous Crime Act and the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, which would prioritize the rights of law-abiding citizens, victims, and our dedicated cops, hold rogue prosecutors accountable, and put depraved career predators where they belong: Behind bars.
It is time for politicians to stop favoring criminals over the law and start putting the well-being of American neighborhoods, law enforcement, and victims first.

Congressman Tom Tiffany represents Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District and serves as a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

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