Criminal Justice Reformers Need to Take the Increase in Violent Crime Seriously
(1) Criminal justice/police reform managed to make it high on the public agenda because the huge nationwide reduction in violent crime over the last thirty years, which made people more receptive to arguments about excessive police force, excessive sentencing, racial profiling, etc.
(2) If the huge and unprecedented increase in violent crime last year, and especially murder, marks the beginning of a trend, it will sink criminal justice/police reform.
(3) Therefore, it is imperative that people who believe in criminal justice/police reform take the increase in crime seriously.
I mean, they should anyway, because violent crime is a bad thing all around, but just from the perspective of reformism, it's a disaster.