Americans are, without question, safer today than they were 10
or 20 years ago. Between 1992 and 2012,
violent crime in the United States dropped by 49%. Yet
Americans consistently
believe that crime is increasing year after year.
In an attempt to exploit these fears for political gain this
midterm election season, candidates and independent groups have run
ads in Nebraska, Kansas, Alaska, and Colorado attacking opponents
for being “soft on crime”.
Some of these ads are so heinous, they’ve drawn comparison to
the infamous Willie Horton spot that aired in 1988. That ad went
down in the annals for making people believe Democratic
presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was to blame for the rape
committed by a scary black prisoner who was on weekend
furlough.
Here are some of the worst Willie Horton–style ad campaigns
running this year:
Nebraska
The ad that most closely resembles the Willie Horton spot comes
from Nebraska. Paid for by the National Republican Congressional
Committee, it tries to link Democratic state senator Brad Ashford
to the murders committed by Nikko Jenkins, a man who was released
from prison early . The ad has been viewed over 162,000 times on
YouTube.
Like the fear mongering Willie Horton ad, this ad plays up
racial stereotypes with menacing footage of Nikko Jenkins, a black
man heavily covered in facial tattoos, yelling at the camera while
in his prison uniform. As this footage plays, a female narrator
states Jenkins was released from prison after serving only half of
his sentence because of the state’s “good time” law, which Ashford
supported and still defends.
Indeed, Nebraska’s good time law, which was expanded in 1992 to
allow prisoners to earn automatic credits toward reductions in
their sentences, is why Jenkins was released after 10 and a half
years. He had received a maximum 21-year sentence for two
carjackings committed as a teenager and two assaults committed
while behind bars.
But it’s still not right to take away all offenders’ ability to
earn credit for good behavior just because there’s a chance one of
them might commit a crime in the future. The implication that
Ashford, who didn’t even vote on the law, is somehow responsible
for Jenkins’ murders is ridiculous at best.
If that’s not bad enough, there’s more. Yesterday, the NRCC
released a second ad attacking Ashford for being soft on crime. The
narrator once again links his support of the state’s good time law
to Nikko Jenkins’ murders—and adds that he also supported removing
sex offenders from the state registry.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, that claim refers
to amendments Ashford offered that would allow the state to
differentiate between high-risk offenders, like those convicted of
child molestation, and low-risk offenders, like those convicted of
public urination. As far as the NRCC is concerned, this means he
wants to prevent families from knowing if sexual predators are in
their neighborhoods.
Kansas
This ad comes from the current Republican governor of Kansas,
Sam Brownback. It starts by showing two scary black men, the Carr
brothers, who went on a “killing spree” and were subsequently
sentenced to death row. The Kansas Supreme Court later
overturned those sentences because of legal errors made during
the sentencing phase of trial.
However, the narrator states that “liberal judges” changed the
Carr brothers’ death sentences and that Brownback’s Democratic
opponent, Paul Davis, “supported these judges.” The ad goes on to
accuse Davis of being a “liberal defense lawyer” who will appoint
“liberal judges” to the Kansas Supreme Court who will let
murderers, like the Carr brothers, “off the hook.”
The thing is, the Carr brothers weren’t let out of prison, as
the ad suggests—their convictions stand. The likelihood that
they’ll be released before they die is roughly 0 percent. And even
if their death sentences had been upheld, they likely wouldn’t have
been executed, as
Kansas hasn’t performed an execution since 1965.
But who cares about all of that when there’s fear to manufacture
and exploit?
Alaska
Alaska Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat, initially ran an ad
attacking his Republican challenger, Dan Sullivan, on his crime
record, but pulled it after it received massive backlash.
The ad, which can still be viewed on Politico, suggested that as
the state’s attorney general, Sullivan was responsible for the
early release of a convicted sex offender who later murdered a
couple and sexually assaulted their 2-year-old granddaughter. It
features a retired police sergeant parking in front of the location
where the brutal crimes took place and even lists the address.
But Jerry Active, the man accused of committing these crimes,
hasn’t been convicted yet. In fact, the trial hasn’t even begun.
The victim’s family attorney contacted Begich’s campaign and
asked him to take down his ad, partly out of fear it could
poison the jury pool.
Moreover, Sullivan had nothing to do with Active’s release. He
was let out of prison in 2009 after serving four years of a plea
deal that, according
to Politico, happened “because of a clerical error that took
place before Sullivan became attorney general.”
The controversial ad received a “pants on fire” rating from
Politifact.com.
Sleazy, yes. Facutally inaccurate, potentially harmful to
Active’s trial and traumatizing to the victims’ family? Who cares.
An election is at stake!
Colorado
The Republican Governors Association is spending $2 million to
air an attack ad against current Democratic governor John
Hickenlooper. The ad suggests he is considering granting Nathan
Dunlap, a prisoner sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of three
people at a Chuck E. Cheese, “full clemency,” allowing him to walk
free.
Hickenlooper did grant Dunlap a “temporary reprieve” last
year, meaning Dunlap will not face execution as long as
Hickenlooper is governor. He
has also expressed reservations about the death penalty in
general. But Colorado has not executed a prisoner
since 1997, and the fact is that even if Hickenlooper were to
grant Dunlap clemency, it would only mean that he would serve a
life sentence instead of being killed. That’s nowhere near letting
him walk free.
Republican candidate for governor Bob Beauprez is running a
similar ad suggesting Hickenlooper let a prisoner out who
threatened to “kill as many people” as he could.
The ad ends with text that reads, “With John Hickenlooper as
Governor, is your family safe?”
Terrifying, indeed.
Besides being inflammatory, inaccurate, and/or misleading, all
these ads have the potential to do some real harm. A recent study published by the
American Constitution Society and two Emory Law School professors
found that airing a lot of state supreme court election ads makes
justices less likely to rule in favor of criminal defendants.
It’s one thing to run ads criticizing a candidate’s record on
crime, but using scary images of heinous criminals and attempting
to link your opponent to the crimes they committed crosses a line.
It’s irresponsible, and it reinforces the misconception that crime
is going up and politicians need to “do something” about it. Good
policy rarely comes from hysteria.
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