Billionaire George Soros is defending his support of prosecutors who have implemented a raft of measures that critics say have led to a spike in crime and other negative effects.
Soros said in a new op-ed that he is concerned about crime but also sees a need to reform the criminal justice system, which he described as “rife with injustices that make us all less safe.”
“The idea that we need to choose between justice and safety is false. They reinforce each other: If people trust the justice system, it will work. And if the system works, public safety will improve,” he wrote, pointing out that black people in the United States are more likely to be in jail as white people, a discrepancy some attribute to racism and others to crime rates between the groups being different.
Soros and groups he funds have financially supported the campaigns of dozens of leftist district attorney candidates in recent years, many of whom have won elections.
They include George Gascon, the Los Angeles prosecutor who may be recalled; Lawrence Krasner, the district attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Alvin Bragg, the top prosecutor in New York County, top Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx, and Kimberly Gardner, the circuit attorney for St. Louis, Missouri.
The prosecutors share some commonalities. Policies practically all have implemented include halting or curbing the prosecution of lower-level crimes and moving for some type of bail reform, either eliminating bail or adjusting the bail system.
The prosecutors and their supporters say the alterations are aimed at improving the justice system, but critics say the policies have led to crime spikes.
While prosecutors backed by Soros oversee 20 percent of Americans, over 40 percent of U.S. homicides in 2021 occurred in their jurisdictions, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a group with the mission of supporting law enforcement.
