Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is promoting legislation in the House of Representatives that would cut certain federal funding to states and localities that prohibit cash bail or do not utilize pretrial detention practices for violent offenders.
Dubbed the Keep Violent Criminals Off Our Streets Act, the bill attempts to “build on” and codify two executive orders by President Donald Trump signed in April that sought to end cashless bail in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere across the nation.
It also comes after the slaying of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee living in the U.S., who was fatally stabbed on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 22. A career criminal, Decarlos Brown Jr., is being held in connection with the slaying.
Brown, 34, reportedly had at 14 prior arrests in Mecklenburg County, which encompasses Charlotte, since 2007. He had been convicted of larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting, among other things. He also apparently was known to have schizophrenia by local law enforcement and had been sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 for crimes committed in 2013 and 2014. He was released from prison in 2020.
In 2020, New York state instituted an end to cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. Stefanik took aim at New York’s Democrat governor (who was the lieutenant governor at the time) in a comment about her legislation.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, cashless bail policies in New York pose a clear and present danger to the Nation and must be terminated,” the New York GOP congresswoman contended.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is spearheading companion legislation in the Senate.
“Today, Sen. Marsha Blackburn and I are working alongside President Trump to end the cashless bail disaster. We can’t allow arrested individuals who are awaiting trial to be released back onto the streets to commit more crimes against their communities,” Stefanik added in her statement.
The House version of the bill is being co-sponsored by Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C.
“Iryna Zarutska should still be alive. Her blood is on the hands of every single person who made it possible for this monster to walk free,” Moore said in a statement.
“That’s why I’m co-leading the Keep Violent Criminals Off Our Streets Act to cut off federal funds to any state or city that refuses to detain violent offenders. If leaders willingly refuse to do their job to lock up dangerous criminals, they shouldn’t get a dime of federal support,” the North Carolina congressman said.
The legislators’ measure comes after the reporting of sobering statistics from 2023 that show about a 58% clearance rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter cases in the United States.
“The clearance rate is the total number of arrests or exceptional clearances made for a given crime in a particular year (e.g., 2023) divided by the total incidences of that crime that were reported to police that same year,” The Daily Signal previously reported.
The clearance rate includes the solving of crimes that were committed in years past, which means that the number of people who were charged with committing murder or nonnegligent manslaughter within a year of having committed one of those crimes was likely less than 58% for 2023. Advanced countries like Australia, Britain, and Germany have significantly higher murder clearance rates.
