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we had combined decarceration (with the prison population declining by 17%) and de-policing (with 25% fewer arrests).

Robust policing is, of course, an indispensable part of maintaining order. Mangual writes that the simple proposition that “more policing means less crime” is “one of the most consistent and robust findings in the criminological literature.”

Maybe Democrats will begin to acknowledge this and sue for a formal divorce from the decarceration movement.

Democrats wouldn’t have to try to deny their true views, minimize the spike in certain categories of crime, or — like Hochul — express bemused contempt for a tough-oncrime position if they simply acknowledged that we need more cops arresting more criminals, and these offenders should be put behind bars more reliably and for longer sentences.

If the party didn’t get this after the 2020 election, maybe there is, to paraphrase the folk expression, education in the second kick of the mule.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.

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