atlanta cnn riot
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

While CNN has new leadership, it hasn’t yet changed its fake news ways and radical political ideologies. Their latest attempt at gaslighting of the American public is pushing the “rethinking criminal justice” narrative that says keeping violent criminal predators in prison doesn’t make Americans safer.

Really. CNN cites “experts” who claim that keeping violent criminals in prison doesn’t stop violent crime.

Calls for tougher prison sentences are growing in Memphis, Tennessee, as word spreads the suspects in two violent attacks there this month had been released from prison before serving their full sentences for prior convictions.

But experts told CNN research shows harsher penalties are not an effective deterrent to violent crime.

Ah, but harsher penalties tend to keep bad guys locked up longer in places where they can’t victimize more innocents people…thus preventing more crime. Especially the violent kinds.

The family and friends of 34-year-old teacher Eliza Fletcher in Memphis might disagree

So too the friends and family members of the hundreds of Chicago residents — their names we’ll never know because they weren’t billionaire heiresses or other celebrities — who were shot and/or killed by recidivists and accused felons out on so-called “affordable bail.”

CWB Chicago follows the stories of these victims of the previously-arrested, who were then released under Illinois misguided “Affordable Bail Act of 2017” . . .

This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others while on bond for a pending felony case. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “we haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.

Table from CWBChicago.com.

So in three years, cops say 82 people have been murdered by people out on affordable bail. Scores more were shot and survived. One case involved a homeless guy who was doused in gasoline then set ablaze.

From CWB Chicago back on May 30th . . .

Joseph Guardia, the man who police say set a well-known homeless man on fire in River North last week, has been wanted by authorities since February 2021 when he stopped showing up in court for two felony burglary cases in the suburbs, court records show.

Guardia is the 22nd person accused of killing or shooting — or trying to shoot or kill — someone in Chicago this year while awaiting trial for a felony. The alleged crimes involve at least 50 victims, 11 of whom died.

Joseph Kromelis, 75, was on fire for about three minutes before security guards extinguished the flames, Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak said. Hanichak, a prosecutor for 16 years, told Judge Charles Beach he had never seen video footage as horrific as the attack on Kromelis. Doctors believe Kromelis’ injuries are not survivable, he said.

Then there was the guy out on “affordable bail” who police caught for a second time engaging in rolling gun battles through the city. A bigger question: Why wasn’t he still in prison for the first conviction?

Prosecutors say a man who was convicted of exchanging shots in a rolling gunbattle in 2019 was once again engaged in a shootout while traveling in a car in Chicago this week. Naheem King, 22, was himself shot during the incident while having a hand bandaged from a previous gunshot wound and while on bail for a felony, officials said.

Or this guy who, exactly one week after being released on “affordable bail” on a felony gun charge, executed another gang member according to prosecutors. From CWB Chicago . . .

Two men who shot an opposing gang member in a random attack on Monday evening were arrested before they could even flee the scene because Chicago cops were tipped off to the shooting by the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection network, officials said. And a concealed-carry holder who was near the victim allegedly returned fire, injuring a passenger in their car.

One of the accused men, Julius Hernandez, was released from custody to await trial for a pending felony gun charge in juvenile court exactly one week before the murder.

Or this guy who killed his sister’s boyfriend after being released on on charges of shooting someone else . . .

Prosecutors say a Chicago man on electronic monitoring for allegedly shooting a woman in 2020 got another gun and killed his half-sister’s boyfriend in their home Saturday night.

Kevin Bennett is the 33rd person accused of killing or shooting—or attempting to kill or shoot—someone in Chicago while awaiting trial for a felony this year. The alleged crimes involved at least 67 victims, 15 of whom died.

Given that Chicago Police solve less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and only 13.5% of homicides so far this year, it stands to reason many will become violent crime victims at the hands of those out on pre-trial affordable bail.

Folks, carry your gun for personal defense every day…and twice on Sunday. Ignore anyone who’s selling the story that keeping violent criminals locked up won’t prevent crime and keep us safer.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

67 COMMENTS

  1. Ok, so I’m asking:
    Is the dividing line between those that have everything upside down and backwards vs. those that just out and out lie just to get everyone worked up defined and boldly labeled ‘gaslighting’?

    • You mean low-information voters/idiots (BIRM) vs. agenda-driven propagandists? Is it that hard to tell them apart?

      Then again, someone once told me never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence/idiocy.

      • “Then again, someone once told me never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence/idiocy.”

        I believe there are current people in power who want chaos. They encourage it. Using goverment policy. I don’t believe they are incompetent.

        Raising the amount of what is considered a misdemeanor to $950 is not an act of incompetence. Is it a deliberate act by someone who does not value or believed that the private property of the lower economic classes is very important society.

        And eliminating cash bail for someone accused of murder is not an act of incompetence. Is a deliberate Act by someone who wants to cause chaos in society.

      • “ Then again, someone once told me never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence/idiocy.”

        The Left has been using this excuse for far too long. NO ONE in the upper reaches of politics is an idiot, when things go to shit, THAT WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG! Does the Left have lots of malice or lots of stupidity? Even a total moron gets one right every once in a while.

      • Sure, John, it often IS that hard to tell them apart. Ex.A – MajorStupidity. He is “low information” AND a lying propagandist. dacian the demented, on the other hand, is just stupid and uneducated and indoctrinated.

      • There is no longer a difference. The former has had ample time to educate themselves if they wanted to and the latter…. Well, they lie.

        Both are complicit

        • R. Corrino,

          “The former has had ample time to educate themselves if they wanted to”. You forgot to add, “and had the cognitive ability to”.

          There, fixed it for you. dacian the demented manifestly lacks the ability to engage in learning or ratiocination . . . and I’m beginning to have my doubts about MajorStupidity.

  2. But if some criminal is locked up forever the only people he/she has to kill are other criminals. How does that not make me safer?

    • If we have someone dangerous enough to lock up forever to protect society then lets use the death penalty and have public hangings . I’m for it.

    • Well, Imaho, unless YOU are one of the criminals he’s locked up with, and he’s locked up, why WOULDN’T that make you safer? Sure as hell makes ME feel safer.

  3. Well the Libertarians believe this too. Which is why they have been saying for decades, “the USA has too many people in it’s prisons and jails, compared to other countries”. I don’t care about comparing America to other countries. That is what a s0ci@list pr0gressive leftist does.

    When you promote releasing criminals early, or not even locking them up for stealing private property. Of course crime goes up. Also the people who support these destructive policies, don’t live in the cities, or neighborhoods, where they are implemented. The best way to reduce crime is to flood the USA with guns.
    It used to be this way. And we had a much, much smaller government back then as well.

    And armed society is a much more polite society. The anti-social will be forced, through self-preservation to be more polite to people.

    • Chris T,

      Don’t know which “libertarions” you’ve been talking to, but . . . it isn’t about numbers. There is no “right” or “wrong” number of people to have incarcerated, so long as the process is fair, and the “crimes” for which people can be charged are within the valid police powers of the state, or the enumerated Constitutional powers of the Feds (and there are DAMN few of those).

      No one should be locked up simply for using drugs. Their body; their business. Now, many (most?) druggies finance their habit by criminal activities, but that is largely because our “War on Drugs” has been a gift to the cartels and other organized crime. Make the s*** legal, and the price will drop like a rock. Do I care if some Afghani farmer wants to grow poppies? Nope. Only an idiot would use meth, heroin, crack, etc., but . . . as long as they’re not stealing to support their habit, f***s given equals zero.

      Rape, murder, kidnapping, child molestation, arson, basically “malum in se” offenses? You lock up however many get convicted. Counterfeiting? Sure, the Feds can (if they weren’t blithering incompetents) lock up as many as they can catch and convict. “Malum prohibitum” offenses (“It’s wrong because we say so!”)? No freakin’ way.

        • Hmm. I will simply respond that I am not in any way “naive”. If you have a substantive dispute with what my comment said, I am happy to entertain it. What part of “individual liberty” is opaque to you?

      • We calculated the average price of street marijuana from online websites, and we found that the incentive to hit the black market is greatest in California. By our estimates, buying marijuana on the black market saves consumers 27%—more than double the percentage savings in any other state.

        Legalizing drugs only means the government cartel gets their cut, and decides who gets to succeed and who should fail, just like they do with every other industry they touch.

        • Yes and no. Dude.

          Of course the government thugs always “get their share” – that is the essence of our (existing) government. Don’t think that’s what the Founders intended, but that’s where we are today.

          But California (as usual) has the WORST of both worlds. If you look at California’s arcane and Byzantine law regarding “medical” marijuana, there are numerous reasons why the discrepancy exists. The bottom line is, the black market has one thing in which it materially differs from the “regulated” market – the black market is RELATIVELY a free market, in terms of supply and demand (the efforts of the cartels/organized crime to divvy up territories is real, but is far from absolute, and is a subject for a separate discussion). There IS a “street price” for marijuana, and it is (somewhat) competitive. Relative quality is a less objective variable, but even there, “street talk” provides consumer feedback on quality.

          In the “regulated” market, (i) only a VERY limited number of “government approved” (and I’m sure THAT process is ENTIRELY apolitical, transparent, and free of corruption!!) dispensaries, and they are subject to significant regulation, regular inspections, etc., etc., etc., (ii) same is true for “licensed” growers, so the price is anything BUT a market price (or, the market is anything but a market, take your pick).

          IF the pot were truly legalized, rather than “decriminalized and regulated”, the price would drop. A LOT. Marijuana ain’t that hard to grow (it is, after all, a weed). If anyone could do it legally, many would . . . and the market would be flooded, the price would drop, and over time, the quality would improve.

          Not arguing for or against the use of marijuana; simply noting that the free market actually does work.

          Fun fact: The largest grower of marijuana in the US??? ArcherDanielsMidland, by a HUGE margin. Interesting, eh?

  4. Shooting violent criminals in the act of the commission of their crimes is the best way of putting an end to their felonious ways.

    • “If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.”
      -Jeff Cooper-

  5. Really?? I sure feel safer when they’re caged! As they should be!! Not enough of these “experts” have been impacted by scumbags yet, that’s the problem.

  6. Any given prison sentence for any given crime may not deter any given bad actor who is free among us. In that sense the THREAT of long prison sentences may not do much to prevent said bad actors from committing crimes and therefore fail to reduce violent crime rates.

    Now for three indisputable facts:
    1) A very small percentage of the population commits all of the violent crimes.
    2) Roughly 90% of all convicted violent criminals will commit violent crimes again.
    3) Imprisoned violent criminals cannot commit violent crimes in society.

    It is therefore indisputable that imprisoned violent criminals cannot commit violent crimes in society and therefore longer prison sentences will reduce the overall violent crime rate in society. Of course the mechanism is not deterrence, the mechanism is incarceration.

    Nuance. It’s a thing.

    • Excellent reasoning there, and sounds like a viable plan to me. The best way to keep habitual felons from committing more crimes is to keep them in jail. Their behavior has shown that’s the best place for them to be. A real shame we can’t put these incompetent, do-nothing federal leaders with the.

      • This has been proven with data we already possess. The criminal politicians pretend like solving violent crime is a mystery because they don’t want to solve it.

  7. Keeping violent criminals in prison won’t keep up safe but wearing a flimsy face mask and being prohibited from gathering with friends and family will keep us safe?

    Holy crap, could these libtards be a bigger bunch of jackalopes?

    That last one was a rhetorical question.

  8. “were arrested before they could even flee the scene because Chicago cops were tipped off to the shooting by the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection network, officials said”

    Interesting, so shot spotter does work.

    “And a concealed-carry holder who was near the victim allegedly returned fire, injuring a passenger in their car.”

    Another responsible gun owner makes his personal contribution to Chicago’s chaos, bravo!

    One would think the wounded passenger would hope the “concealed carry holder” would have attending more education and training.

    • @Miner49er

      “Interesting, so shot spotter does work.”

      Not really.

      Chicago cops SAID they were tipped off “by the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection network”. Not really, what they do is simply respond to any indication from the “city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection network”. The false alarms are so numerous that simply responding to them so frequently eventually yields one that is genuine.

  9. There’s a characteristic inherent in the vast majority of these criminal perpetrators. I can’t quite put my finger on it …

    • Youngish males from fatherless homes. Maybe we should find out why the traditional family began falling apart over five decades ago. Nah, I’m sure it’ll be fine…

  10. Well lets get all the names and addresses of the CNN people who believe that and we will send all the criminals to there homes and see what they say.

  11. This is what we get with useless college majors. An “expert” for everything you need to justify. Just be thankful fields that actually matter like engineering have far fewer of these people…….for now.

  12. As Usual Boch does a good job of twisting everying CNN says to appeal to the Far Right’s ignorance and lower end mentality.

    CNN’s point was that as fast as you lock a violent criminal up there are 100 new ones to take his place. The Far Rights demented answer to crime is to build thousands of new prison’s on a yearly basis without spending the money to find out “what the cause of crime is”.

    The Far Rights idiotic solution is best compared to installing a sprinkler system in a barn after it has already burned down.

    It does the “dead” and the bereaved no good at all to lock criminals up after the crime has been committed when if you knew the causes of crime you could have prevented the murders before they happened. This of course is way over the head of the primitive and savage Far Right Neanderthals who seek simplistic violent solutions to complex social problems and of course are never willing to pay even a few pennies in taxes to find solutions to these problems but do not mind paying billions to hire armies of untrained, unvetted, thug, killer cops and to build new prisons which solve nothing except perpetuate the violence and killings.

    American run prisons do not reform offenders they only make them far worse because the far right Republicans are too cheap and stingy to spend the money to actually reform people who are in prison. In one NPR study it was found that people who were locked up for 20 years for stealing a $1 VCR tape because of the idiotic 3 strikes and you are out law did not even know how to run a computer which made it almost impossible for them to even look for a job let alone get one.

    Western Europe who has always been far ahead and far more civilized when it has come to treatment and drug reform and rehabilitation and has been willing to spend the money to experiment and to find solutions.

    In one European prison having both male and female prisoners in the same prison the violence rate in the prison went down dramatically. Of course this type of advanced thinking is far beyond the mentality of the savage Far Right stingy Neanderthal Republicans who would screw their own mother out of her last penny. Paul Ryan, former speaker of the house even tried to screw his own mother out of her social security payments by screaming he wanted to privatize Social Security. You cannot get any lower than that.

    Western Europe has been far more successful in fighting the drug trade by giving out “free drugs and treatment” driving many drug gangs out of business. After all who would be stupid enough to pay money for drugs when you can get them for free. Of course the Moronic stingy, cheap FarRight Neanderthal Republicans do not realize that such social programs are far cheaper to implement than building thousands of new prisons and again hiring huge armies of largely untrained thug killer cops. Our poor vetting system when hiring cops insures that only the most sadistic, the most violent, and the most depraved of people apply to become cops because they know they can get away with torture, murder and sadism.

    No, CNN did not say you should release extremely violent criminals but they did say finding out how they got that way is the only way to make the U.S. a more civilized country to live in.
    I dare say the inmates of an insane asylum could run the U.S. far more sanely than the current crop of demented Far Right Republicans Gangster Criminals who are corrupt to the core.

    • “In one NPR study it was found that people who were locked up for 20 years for stealing a $1 VCR tape because of the idiotic 3 strikes and you are out law did not even know how to run a computer which made it almost impossible for them to even look for a job let alone get one.”

      All you gotta do, dacian, is walk down the street, and instead of steal a VCR tape, go inside one of the multiple thousands of storefronts that have “Help Wanted” signs in the windows, and ask about a job. Pretty simple–I bet even you could do it. No computer needed, and no jail time. Just think, you could become a productive member of society! But, since NPR told you that you aren’t capable, I suppose you won’t.

      • hawkeye,

        No, TRUST ME, brother, dacian the demented is the very definition of “not capable”, and it has nothing to do with NPR. dacian is a walking exhibit for encouraging Darwinism – in a rational world, that idiot wouldn’t have survived childhood. Hmm. Come to think of it, he hasn’t “survived” childhood, he’s still enjoying it.

      • Remember that time the ivory tower libs told out of work miners to just learn to code? Or how about that time John Kerry told skilled contractors, that were just fired from the biggest contract of their lives, that they should just go work in a factory building solar panels? Yeah.

    • dacian. You are the far right. All that hatred bubbling out of you. Your movement was purchased by corporate billionaires and converted to fascism. The left is dead in this country. Your overlords took you so far to the left that you are now the far, far right.

      There is no difference between the American Nazi party, the klan and you. Hate groups that contribute nothing to society. Hell, proud boys are more liberal than you.

      • More to the point JWM.
        lil’d and his ilk are the real ‘Naked Apes’ that the idiot always likes to speak of.

        Even casual observers can recognize them from a mile away and anticipate their next move. All their moves have become boringly predictable at this point.

        I’ve stated several times that TTAG needs a better caliber of trolls. I’ve come to realize they’re actually the troll farm A-team. Totally pathetic.

        • Okay, so last time I left my Scrabble game out and my dog ate all of the tiles, I reported that what I found in the backyard merely spelled out something that made more sense than lil’d’s incoherent ramblings.
          Well, I replaced the game, left it out last night, and damn if she didn’t do it again and left a message in the yard.
          This time ??…dacn fckn rtardd.
          Gotta love that dog.

    • the real issue is the lie about a civilized society in current times. a truly civilized society would live by hammurabi’s code. all problems would be solved, including politics.

      • ironically, a replica of the stele with Hammurabi’s lex talionis inscribed on it is displayed in no other than the UN building in NYC… yep, the
        same UN that would love to be granted control over the entire frickin globe.
        ironical, right?

      • Holy crap, is that the man, the legend, the Baba Yaga of Shannon Watt’s dreams, Dirk Diggler?

        Lemme check… starts sentences in lower case, just like Dirk did…

        How in the hell are you, Dr. Dirk Diggler? 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • So you are saying not to punish offenders, because prisons don’t reform them?

      For someone to be reformed they must want to do it. No amount of trying to reform someone who doesn’t want to is going to reform them. If they are not reformed do you propose to release them anyway? Or send them to super reform school?

  14. A felon really hasn’t got much of a chance to become a productive member of society when your felony record keeps you from renting a house or getting employed.
    Along with the Hire a Veteran America should have a Hire a Felon also.
    Put them felons working on an oil rig and they wouldn’t have time to commit crimes,,,,, oh wait, oil rigs are canceled.
    Let’s Go Brandon

    • We don’t have a justice system in this country. Just a revenge system. And once you get into that system there is no getting out.

      • jwm,

        Why, a cynic might say, “It’s almost as if it was DESIGNED to be a revolving door!” Umm . . . YEAH, that’s kinda the point. There is no question that our “justice” system is heavily rooted in Puritan morality (and partakes not of Jesus’ pascal sacrifice or God’s grace). Stupid. Once we pare down the list of “crimes” to ACTUAL crimes, and get the system squared away, I have no problem with a society protecting itself by incarcerating (violent) criminals. For whatever period is reasonable. Once they serve that, they are a citizen again. PERIOD. For all crimes, violent and non-violent, there should be a compensatory element – perp must pay back victim(s) for harm caused.

        Our Founders were smarter than we give the credit for – other than the “shape” of our criminal “justice” system (structure of the courts), there is not one damn thing about our system that is authorized anywhere in the Constitution. Contemplate that.

  15. It most certainly has not had much effect on America’s crime rates has it? And neither has the DEATH PENALTY been much of a deterrent. In fac t thoughout history the Deasth Penalty has ALWAYS been more of an instrument of REVENGE rather than a deterrent. Except. possibly where it has been mandatory as it was in Great Britain and the UK for murdering a Police Officer in persuance of his or her Duty.

    • Agreed, but ONLY if we concurrently legalize the growing, production, distribution of those drugs. Either the s*** is legal, or it isn’t. If it’s legal to ingest it, but illegal to grow, process, or distribute it, how is that “legal”???

  18. I believe we should give Americas prisoners their own island.
    Or perhaps a deep part of the Amazon rain forest.
    To my great delight however it would be entertaining if the system would bring back Rome’s Christian versus Lion killing contest and that
    Gladiator stuff too.
    Each Friday night on channel 7-2 you could watch your favorite criminals fighting to the death a d right after that you could have the criminals fighting lions.
    Get a good sponsor like Pepsi -Cola and a person could get rich.
    Well that’s not here or there.
    Long prison sentences??? hmmm , perhaps if they were long enough that upon release the violent was to old and feeble ( did anyone besides me picture Joe Biden?) to do anything except head for the nursing home.
    35 year sentence on a man 20 years old just makes problems, well, with the way I see how the system is structured anyway.
    Praise the Lord really doesn’t put meat on the table for a released inmate, the system has secured you a job at the salt mine does.
    So all that gets too complicated.
    Yep, send them to Antarctica.
    Here’s a match, good luck.

Comments are closed.