Before a local television station posted the shocking video of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Irnya Zarutska being stabbed in the neck and killed by repeat felon Decarlos Brown, Vi Lyles, the mayor of Charlotte, where the murder took place, said her city’s transit system was “by and large” safe and “we will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health.”

Lyles was right, up to a point. If we simply arrest violent felons and don’t keep them behind bars, there is no way arrests can contribute to safety on public transportation. But if Democratic-controlled cities such as Charlotte had more effective and accountable criminal justice systems that kept Brown and other similar offenders locked up, arresting our way to safety would be entirely possible.

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