By Lucretia Hughes Klucken
NEW YORK — Democratic Socialists of America leader Frances Gill was asked a simple question during a live television debate: If socialists abolish the police and prisons, who will catch a rapist?
Instead of providing a direct answer, Gill deflected.
That moment should alarm every American, particularly every woman who has been told that eliminating law enforcement would somehow make her safer.
Gill, a member of the DSA’s National Political Committee, appeared July 27 on NewsNation’s “CUOMO” alongside former Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison. Host Chris Cuomo brought them together to debate whether the DSA’s radical policy positions help or hurt Democratic candidates.
The DSA confirms that Gill sits on its National Political Committee, which serves as the organization’s highest decision-making body between national conventions. The organization says it has more than 90,000 members. DSA National Convention
When the discussion turned to abolishing police and prisons, Gill was pressed on the practical consequences. Who responds when a woman is raped? Who investigates the crime? Who arrests the suspect? Where does a convicted rapist go?
Those are not right-wing talking points. They are questions of life, death and public safety.
Gill’s failure to provide a straightforward answer exposed the enormous gap between socialist slogans and reality.
A slogan is not a public-safety plan
It is easy for activists to chant “abolish the police” while surrounded by television cameras, political allies and private security.
It is much harder to explain what happens when a terrified woman calls 911 after being attacked.
A social worker cannot chase an armed suspect. A community committee cannot execute a search warrant. A neighborhood meeting cannot process DNA evidence, conduct a lawful interrogation or place a violent predator under arrest.
Those responsibilities require trained law enforcement officers operating under the Constitution and subject to public accountability.
Police misconduct should be investigated. Corrupt officers should be prosecuted. Departments should receive better training, and victims should be treated with dignity. But reforming an institution is not the same as destroying it.
Abolishing police does not abolish violence. Abolishing prisons does not abolish rapists, murderers or child predators.
It only removes the institutions responsible for stopping them.
The DSA’s agenda is no longer hidden
Gill’s appearance came one day after DSA national co-chair Megan Romer openly acknowledged several of the organization’s long-term objectives during “Fox News Sunday.”
Romer answered affirmatively when asked whether the DSA supports abolishing the Senate, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, national borders and prisons. She also confirmed support for defunding the Pentagon and placing major corporations under public ownership.
When host Shannon Bream specifically asked about murderers, rapists and child predators, Romer argued that eliminating poverty would reduce crime and that society could later “collectively decide” what to do with the remaining dangerous offenders.
Romer eventually acknowledged that some people cannot function safely in society, but she stopped short of defending the existing prison system. Fox News interview
That answer offers little comfort to a woman being followed through a parking garage or a mother discovering that her child has been assaulted.
Poverty does not explain every violent crime. Wealthy people commit rape. Powerful people abuse children. Predators exist in every economic class, and no government program will eliminate evil from the human heart.
A civilized society must be prepared to separate dangerous offenders from innocent people.
Women will pay the price
The people promoting police and prison abolition frequently claim to speak for women, minorities and vulnerable communities. Yet those same communities often suffer the most when law enforcement disappears and violent criminals are allowed to dominate neighborhoods.
Wealthy political activists can hire private security, install expensive alarm systems and live behind gates. Working-class families depend on public police departments.
Women walking to their cars after a late shift depend on them.
Mothers trying to protect their children depend on them.
Domestic violence victims waiting for someone to answer their emergency calls depend on them.
If Gill and the DSA want to dismantle America’s public-safety system, they have a responsibility to explain what would replace it. They cannot hide behind academic language, vague promises of “community safety” or fantasies about eliminating every supposed cause of crime.
The American people deserve a direct answer.
Who catches the rapist?
Who protects the victim?
Who gathers the evidence?
Who prevents the attacker from doing it again?
Until the Democratic Socialists of America can answer those questions, its abolition agenda should be treated for what it is: a dangerous political experiment that would leave innocent people defenseless.
Public safety is not oppression. Protecting victims is not cruelty. Imprisoning violent predators is not a failure of compassion.
It is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government.
Stay informed. Stay engaged. And never stop asking questions.
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