Leaders in Oregon and Washington are finally pledging an end to near-nightly chaos caused by antifa and other radical groups they gave free rein to while former President Donald Trump was in office.
But they have a problem with their proposed crackdown. Bail reforms in liberal states are hoisting Democrats by their own petard, with police releasing people they’ve arrested and dropping all charges. It could mean that efforts to restore order now that President Biden is in office will prove ineffective.
“It strikes me as plausible that restrictions on the imposition of monetary release conditions (i.e., cash bail) and pretrial detention could mute some of the potential short-term benefits of ramping up arrests in response to unruly demonstrations and riots,” said Rafael Mangual, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute.
Several demonstrations against Biden’s inauguration quickly turned violent in cities such as Portland and Seattle as activists hoped to send a message to the new Democratic administration that their gripes remain with the criminal justice system, climate change, and general economic inequality. Biden’s alleged commitment to centrist policies and compromise, some activists complained, make him ill-suited to tackle the country’s most pressing problems.
In Portland, left-wing extremists shattered the windows of the headquarters for the Democratic Party of Oregon and graffitied its walls with anti-Biden messages. The state party lamented the damage and emphasized that it was “not the first time our building has been vandalized during the past year.”
Business owners in downtown Seattle demanded city officials take a harder stance against political violence after they surveyed the destruction.
“Every Seattle elected official should immediately denounce these extremists,” read part of a joint statement from local business groups.
A new administration in Washington, D.C., seemingly prompted a different response from local authorities, which pledged tougher policies against lawbreakers.
On Saturday, Seattle’s interim police chief announced a new agreement with the city attorney to ramp up arrests against vandals, following outrage over damage to a federal courthouse in the city.
“The events of breaking windows at a variety of different locations with no meaning,” Adrian Diaz said. “There was no discussion about what they were fighting for, what type of social justice message. That cannot happen. That level of direct action cannot occur. And we are going to immediately address those issues.”
Law enforcement in Tacoma, Washington, which saw violent demonstrations on Sunday, echoed a similar message, with a local sheriff warning the public that “the bar is low for arresting people.”
Despite outrage from Democratic leaders this summer over the Trump administration’s use of federal police in cities to curb unrest, Biden’s Department of Justice seemingly continued that policy last week as activists approaching a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland were met with tear gas and stun grenades from federal agents.
But some criminal justice experts said promises of more arrests may do little to curb the problem because offenders would likely be almost immediately released from custody, thanks to bail reform policies.
Both Seattle and Portland are undergoing an experimental overhaul of their criminal justice systems, with prosecutors eliminating cash bail on most criminal offenses and refusing to press charges on numerous misdemeanors.
Many left-wing activists simply do not seem deterred by the two cities’ catch-and-release policies. This summer and fall, when the two cities saw a surge in rioting in the wake of the death of George Floyd, law enforcement was caught between orders not to intervene against violent demonstrations or often arresting people on more than one occasion for rioting-related charges over the course of a few months.
Tacoma, a city that still prosecutes most misdemeanor offenses and holds the right to demand bail for accused offenders, may soon have no choice but to follow in the steps of Seattle and Portland. The Washington Legislature is considering a Democratic-led bill that would bring many of the restorative justice initiatives in those two districts statewide. Democrats hold a majority in both state chambers and the governorship.
Despite those efforts, patience seems to be wearing thin among some national Democrats, including the president. On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki condemned the recent demonstrations and said her “team is, of course, monitoring it very closely.”
“Peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy, but smashing windows is not protesting, and neither is looting,” she said. “And actions like these are totally unacceptable, and anyone who committed a crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told the Washington Examiner just days prior that he “repudiates it in every form possible — violence in any form.”
Even with the bail reform efforts in place, Mangual remained hopeful that a beefed-up police presence in various cities would deter future criminals.
“In all, I think a more robust response to destructive behavior during demonstrations will almost certainly minimize (though perhaps not eliminate) the risk that they get out of control; and recent history offers little reason to believe that the continuation of a hands-off policy will improve things,” Mangual added.
