Republicans blame Democrats for rising crime. Here's the complicated truth
As Republicans link higher crime to criminal justice reforms, Democrats are divided over how to defend their record. But there are too many social variables to isolate a single cause for higher crime.
In New York's race for governor, Long Island Republican congressman Lee Zeldin has gained ground on incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul by repeating a simple message.
"There is a crime emergency right now in New York state," Zeldin declared at a mid-October campaign event outside Rikers Island jail, where he accepted the endorsement of the Corrections Officers' Benevolent Association.
"Time and again, one new pro-criminal law after the next, where was Kathy Hochul?"
Zeldin is talking about a series of laws passed in recent years by the Democratic-majority state legislature, which has been, which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies
