Jan 12, 2022 3 min read

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Cesare Beccaria was an 18th century Italian philosopher whose writings formed the underpinnings of the modern criminal justice system, placing reform before revenge.

He wrote: “Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment.”

In short, Beccaria taught us that for the justice system to work justice must be certain and swift. It’s the reason for correcting children at the moment they misbehave; an end-of-day review isn’t likely to change their conduct any more than ignoring it altogether.

Pittsburgh city government needs to think about this. They have just joined Philadelphia, a current model of civic disorder, in putting an end to routine traffic stops and prosecution of various non-violent offenses.

Broken taillights, out-of-date registrations, a range of bottom-line regulations suddenly go by the board. Violators will receive a summons in the mail, assuming a summons is written at all. In short, we’re turning our police into stoplight cameras that, instead of finding out what’s wrong, simply generate a ticket and let the notice come as a surprise.

The underlying idea seems to be that by letting things go, we will somehow win over the citizenry and generate some sort of New Age good will while preventing roadside confrontations.

The problem here is that you can’t really stop crime by ignoring it. Minor offenses might be the bottom line, but when you erase the bottom line to anything, consequences go out the window.

Consider Philadelphia.

Their district attorney, former criminal defense lawyer Larry Krasner, has decided against prosecuting a veritable raft of violations. Krasner ended the use of cash bail for “low level” offenses such as criminal mischief, drunk driving, forgery, resisting arrest, and a slew of drug-related violations.

Krasner’s office, likewise, has dropped the ball on prosecuting violations of the Uniform Firearms Act. Convicted felons barred from owning a gun, reckless youth carrying unlicensed firearms, and suspects of other firearms related crimes have seen their chances of actual conviction drop below 50 percent as demoralized police bring charges their DA won’t take seriously.

It’s well to remember that many of these guns are discovered during traffic stops.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro has proven better at politics than law enforcement when it comes to this dilemma. The general assembly, alarmed at Krasner’s decision to go easy on crime, gave Shapiro statutory authority to step in and pursue these gun charges. To date, he has declined to do so.

Last year, 560 people were murdered in Philadelphia. More than 2,300 people in that city were victims of a shooting.

Pittsburgh needs to consider this pattern of crime and the danger that, having taken those first steps toward tolerating crime and failing to act with swiftness and certainty, City Council has opened the door to a spike in lawlessness when we can least afford it.

You can’t solve crime by legalizing it. Philadelphia is learning that lesson at the cost of lives. Let’s hope Pittsburgh’s leaders have some second thoughts.

Natalie Mihalek is a member of the Pennsylvania House representing the 40th Legislative District in Allegheny and Washington counties.