John Riis-Christensen: Liberal experiment has made our cities unsafe

Realignment is either a great and glorious liberal idea to put more criminals on the streets, or an experiment in prison policy. Both shall hereby be known as Criminal Welfare. Who do you think the guinea pigs are in this experiment? Are they the prisoners being released from prisons? Nope, they are you and I; our lives and property are at risk.

Then came Proposition 47. It compounds the danger to all Californians. Law enforcement warned that crime rates would increase under Prop 47. Guess what? The cops were right. California took the first three spots in the FBI Crime Statistics for violent crimes. In property crimes, California took five of the first 10. Of 66 California cities, 48 saw an increase in property crimes while 24 saw a double-digit increase. The proponents of realignment and Prop 47 said there would be cost savings. The state saved $128 million while the cost to citizens is $249 million for just six months.

The Brown crime initiative to allow “nonviolent felons” out on early parole is just an added section to the Criminal Welfare program. If any lives matter, why are liberals putting convicted criminals back on the streets?

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "John Riis-Christensen: Liberal experiment has made our cities unsafe."