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.