The brutal stabbing of a woman on a public train by a career criminal with 14 prior arrests serves as yet another reminder of the need to return to a decades-old law enforcement strategy that punishes small crimes to prevent more serious ones.
As most readers will well know by now, on August 22, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee named Iryna Zarutska boarded a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a shift at a local pizza parlor. Moments after she sat down, Decarlos Brown, Jr., who was sitting behind her, pulled out a knife and slit her throat. Surveillance footage of the shocking incident shows Iryna slumping to the floor before succumbing to her injuries. Brown calmly walks off the train. None of the other passengers attempt to help Zarutska for nearly two minutes.
Most of the conversation surrounding Zarutska’s death has centered on the corporate media’s shameful refusal to cover the story and Democrats’ refusal to acknowledge the racial component of the crime (Brown can be heard on tape muttering “I got that white girl” as he exits the train). But largely lost in the conversation is that Brown never should have been on the train in the first place.
First and foremost, there is the fact that Brown had already been arrested 14 prior times, including for violent crimes like robbery with a dangerous weapon. As recently as this past January, Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes (who notably never passed the bar exam) released Brown on no bail after he allegedly misused the 911 system. Many of these 14 crimes – and certainly a combination of them – should have been enough to send Brown to prison for a long, long time.
Even more maddeningly, had the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) simply enforced rules against fare evasion, it is highly likely that Zarutska would still be alive today. As is, CATS has a policy in place which discourages conductors and drivers from requiring a paid ticket and preventing turnstile jumping.
“It appears based on the video that Mr. Brown boarded the bus, did not stop and pay a fare, but then moved beyond, and then rode,” Eric Osnes, a security official with CATS, told the media.
Thankfully for the safety of future riders, Osnes appears to have recognized the dangers of that policy and will now heavily enforce fares with the help of more than 200 officers. “Fare collection and fare evasion strategies are being reviewed as there is a recognition to fare collection and validating fares on the train and bus as first line security control,” Osnes said, according to WCCB.
Unfortunately, that realization was too little, too late for Iryna Zarutska.
Although he didn’t use the term, Osnes was in effect endorsing what’s known as “broken windows policing” – the idea that crimes must be punished immediately and severely, otherwise a signal goes out to criminals that more serious crimes will be allowed.
Renowned criminologist James Q. Wilson articulated this theory in a 1982 article, explaining how “serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked.”
“Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken,” Wilson wrote along with co-author George Kelling.
The “window” in this context is a stand-in for any number of smaller crimes, such as aggressive panhandling, public intoxication, or graffiti. Cities that have embraced the broken windows theory have been rewarded handsomely with a drop in crime, according to an analysis by City Journal.
New York City first began implementing this approach by targeting turnstile jumpers in the 1990s. William Bratton, then the chief of the transit police, “began addressing the pervasive problem of turnstile jumpers on the subways, who, in addition to costing the city about $100 million annually, were a constant source of annoyance to law-abiding citizens who paid for their rides and thought others should, too.”
The crackdown paid off in more than just increased revenue to the transit system.
Police, according to City Journal, “found that one of every seven people they stopped had an outstanding warrant, and one in 20 was carrying a weapon.” In other words, criminals and potential criminals were likely stopped before committing a more serious crime, like stabbing someone to death on the train.
Bratton would soon after become New York Police Department commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 1994, with wild success.
“Crime plunged. In 1993, New York City had endured 1,946 murders and 86,000 reported robberies,” City Journal reported. “The following year, crime fell in all seven major crime categories. By 2000, homicides had plummeted to a total of 673 (a 65 percent decline over seven years) and robberies had fallen to a total of 30,000 (also a 65 percent decline).”
Other cities were soon to follow with their own success stories of decreasing crime by targeted enforcement of quality-of-life crimes and quick intervention to stop potential criminals.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, implemented the “Safer Streets Program” specifically based on broken windows and after seeing the success with New York City’s transit system.
The program focused on reducing rising crime by stepping up enforcement of driving infractions, which were rarely enforced due to a lack of dedicated traffic cops. The enforcement program, which began in 1997, focused on “saturation patrols, follow-up patrols, freeway speed enforcement, and sobriety checkpoints,” in certain areas according to a United States Department of Transportation report.
“Overall, crimes against persons in 1997 were five percent below the 1996 tallies in the four special enforcement areas,” the study concluded. “The overall decline includes a 29 percent decline in homicide, a 17 percent decline in kidnapping, and a ten percent decline in assault.”
Lowell, Massachusetts, residents were also glad when their city implemented broken windows policing in 2005.
That year, “researchers identified 34 crime hot spots in Lowell [Massachusetts] and divided them into two groups,” the Massachusetts Municipal Association reported. “Half received problem-oriented help such as fixing streetlights and clearing away litter, while the other half received no additional assistance.”
As detailed in an academic paper, there was a “20 percent decrease in calls to police from the areas that received special attention.”
Over the past few years, there has been a woke push by left-wing officials to decrease punishments for what they deem “minor” crimes. But criminals will continue committing crimes until they are forced to stop. Broken windows policing has a proven track record of success. The only question may be how many more innocent people have to die before Democrats re-discover it.
Matt Lamb is a contributor for AMAC Newsline and an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
this beats around the bush. just say enforce our laws and PUNISHMENT. PERIOD.
& we need
Armed citizens
CCW & Open Carry Legal
Courts OK 2A
More security
Nationwide
The solution is very simple. If an individual commits a crime that provides for jail time, then make sure they spend at least some time in jail. If it is a serious crime, it should require serious jail time. Judges and prosecutors who do not want to enforce the law and ensure that punishment is applied as per the law should resign or be removed. Leftist judges and prosecutors seem to be in their positions not to enforce the law and protect the public, but rather to advance their political agenda of creating maximum chaos as part of the overall Leftist effort to destroy this country. They need to go – NOW.
how on earth does someone who never passed the bar exam end up a magistrate judge?
Good luck with that one if Mamdani becomes a mayor of NYC that will not happen there. What we need is law and order, cops back on the street visible doing their jobs without being shot, death penalty back and dealing with the criminals the way cops and courts are supposed to.Hold parents responsible for the kids, 12 year olds have no business being on the street after 10 PM Let the school be just that, no indoctrination center and not a babysitting service either. Expectation and demand on the student and discipline. Growing up neglected on the street is a path to criminality. End the welfare to “single” mothers and see how fast that ends.The most important serious war on drugs instead of making it legal , which puts everyone out of responsibility. How clever. List of sins we’ve committed over the past 50 years is endless.
There needs to be more discussion of why the people just sat there and didn’t come to her defense or at least administer some first aid. Stand up and help!
We need more institutions where we can lock up mentally deranged people with murderous intent on a permanent basis.
When we were kids, our parent’s use to say “nip it in the bud”, I haven’t heard that used in forty years. We need to start using that phrase again and enforce it!
This is ANOTHER happenstance for which we can heartily thank ol’ Joe Biden and his miscreant phart catchers
Someone much more intelligent than I stated, “If a bartender can be charged for allowing someone who imbibes too much then goes out and has an accident, why can’t judges who allow people like “Mr. Brown” to get a slap on the wrist, if that, then go out and commit more (serious) crimes, be charged with negligence?”
Charlotte sounds like New York in this instance. What a tragedy that could have been avoided. The indifference with all those standing around baffles me. Another example of a Covid brain dead society. Only God can change our hearts and minds. Pray that He does.
I’ve seen photos of the judge in question … frankly, and not by race, If I was looking for an employee to man a counter at a fast food organization, she would not likely get the job. A lack of decorum and professionalism, along with NOT PASSING THE BAR? In my opinion would disqualify her in the role of passing / not passing judgement on criminals. Hence a major part of the fault of this girls death, lay in the hands of those that put this ‘judge’ in a position of power.
Shame on you!
You are incorrect. Iryna was a refugee from a war torn country. She had to ask to come here.
????
I believe she was a legal immigrant. (a refugee addmitted in 2022)
I don’t believe you have the pertinent facts about this particular immigrant’s being here to make the statement you just did. She was here with permission, not a part of the invasion which occured during the last administration. She was an innocent person, who should not have been killed by a killer, who was begging for our jail system.
Anna – this is one of your worst comments. This girl along with her mother and brother came here legally. Not only that she had a college degree compared to what had been let in under Joe Biden.