The national debate around crime and law-and-order politics has largely focused on America’s biggest cities in blue states: Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, as well as the federal government’s backyard of Washington, D.C.

But the unprovoked stabbing last month of a Ukrainian refugee on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, has thrust the “Queen City” squarely into that conversation.

The gruesome video of what police said was Decarlos Brown’s random attack on Iryna Zarutska was released Friday and quickly sparked a wave of right-wing criticisms of Democratic-led cities and criminal justice reform policies.

The suspect has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for armed robbery, felony larceny and breaking and entering. He spent more than five years behind bars for robbery w

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