New Dem DA promises to stop prosecuting shoplifting, selling small amounts of drugs

A month or so ago Democrat Rachel Rollins was elected DA for Boston.  (Well aware of the huge margin by which Democrats outnumber Repubs in Boston, the Republican party didn't even put up a candidate.)

Before the election Rollins promised voters "criminal justice reform."  Voters rewarded her by an 80-20 margin.  Such a huge margin of victory suggests that voters liked what she was selling, so we thought it would be worthwhile to see what that was.

Turns out her "reform" will be to simply not prosecute criminals who break laws she doesn't think should be enforced, like selling "small amounts" of drugs, shoplifting or resisting arrest.  Instead, she says she'll "resolve" those "issues" by community service or restitution.

“This is the time for us to claim our power and make good on our promises to make true criminal justice reform,” Rollins said. “Reform that is progressive – that decriminalizes poverty, substance use disorder, and mental illness.”

For those unfamiliar with the arcane language of "progressives," the phrase "substance use disorder" is an even more soothing version of "substance Abuse"--i.e. illegal-drug use.  See, many Americans realize that "illegal drug use" is harmful, so progs originally substituted "substance abuse."  But many Americans were still smart enough to recognize this was a word game, so the progs finally settled on "substance use disorder," which banishes the worrisome word "abuse" and also adds "disorder," which says any use is a medical problem having nothing to do with individual choice.

See, citizen?  That's much better!

Rollins will now be part of what the Boston Globe calls an historic trio of people of color in law enforcement leadership roles, joining the city's police commissioner and Suffolk County's sheriff.  An ACLU spokesperson gushed that this was “a transformative moment in the city’s history that should be celebrated.”

We join in wishing Rollins and the people of Boston good luck.  Her novel approach to ignoring non-violent crime seems promising.  Although we vaguely recall it being tried in schools, at the command of Obama's Secretary of Education, who demanded that schools not punish kids for... minor "problems."

We vaguely recall that this edict led to some sort of problem at a Florida high school, where a problem-causing student whose...problems...had been handled...gently, unexpecctedly decided to jump his...problems...to a more serious level.  But this was undoubtedly a one-off, and we shouldn't jump to any conclusions about the wisdom of DA's simply ignoring laws they don't wish to prosecute.

After all, we agree that the prisons are full of non-violent offenders--genteel drug sellers, robbers and burglars who shouldn't be there.

Boston's new District Attorney