Chicago Mayor: Incarcerating Violent Criminals Is ‘Racist, Immoral, and Unholy’
“We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. … The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we have moved past that.”
Last week, a man with 72 prior arrests allegedly set a woman on fire aboard a Chicago Transit Authority train. The brutal attack shocked the nation. The victim, 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, suffered burns across 60% of her body and now faces a long, uncertain recovery.
ABC7 WLS reported that the suspect, Lawrence Reed, was on electronic monitoring for a previous crime.
Court documents reveal Reed had violated his curfew several times in the days leading up to the attack.
And on Nov. 17, the day MaGee was set on fire, an alert went out just after noon that Reed was in violation of his curfew.
Hours later, Reed allegedly attacked MaGee on the train.
And yet, just days later, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared, “We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence.”
For MaGee — and countless others — the incarceration of a repeat offender with Reed’s record would have prevented a nightmare.
But that’s exactly what he told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, insisting, ”We have already tried that, and we have ended up with the largest prison population in the world, without solving the problems of crime and violence.
“The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we have moved past that,” he said, adding, “It is racist. It is immoral. It is unholy and it is not the way to drive violence down.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: “We can not incarcerate our way out of vioIence… it's racist…”
— America (@america) November 25, 2025
In a city where violence has become routine, the Marxist mayor’s anti-incarceration rhetoric sounds increasingly divorced from reality.
ABC7 reported that, last Friday night, “seven teens ranging in age from 13 to 17 were shot in the Loop” at a “teen takeover” event. “A separate shooting nearby left a teen dead and a man injured, officials said.”
Mayor Johnson said the city learned about a possible “teen takeover” [a coordinated teen mob takeover of a street which typically turns into a riot] from social media days before and did what they could to stop it, including adding an additional 700 officers on duty that night.
“As difficult as this moment was, we’re doing and using every single tool that’s available to us, to ensure that these type of violent acts do not become normalized,” Johnson said.
The mayor is calling what played out an “outbreak of accountability and opportunity.” He says the solution will take everyone playing their part, including parents and guardians.
“That’s why it’s going to take police officers, it’s going to take my administration, our public education system, our mentoring programs, and just adults as a whole,” Johnson said. “Adults have to know where their children are.”
If you’re wondering why 700 additional officers couldn’t stop a teen takeover, it’s because there’s no real risk of consequences from the city.
Violence became normalized a long time ago in Chicago. And Johnson’s dream of emptying the prisons has only exacerbated it. Decarceration is not a solution; it’s a dereliction of duty.
Combined with Johnson’s knee-jerk resistance to President Donald Trump, which has only hardened since the administration’s deportation efforts ramped up this fall, it forms a governing philosophy that prioritizes ideology over protecting the people of Chicago, no matter the cost.
In October, anti-deportation activists in Chicago took their protest to a dangerous new level — using cars to ram ICE vehicles and box them in. Although agents repeatedly requested assistance, Chicago Police Department officials stunningly refused to dispatch officers to assist the surrounded agents. Although police officials denied this allegation, CPD dispatch recordings and internal communications told a different story.
So where did that order come from? Does anyone truly believe a CPD official would greenlight such a directive without the mayor’s approval?
More shocking still, two days later, Johnson signed an executive order creating “ICE-free zones” from which federal immigration agents would be prohibited from operating. At the signing ceremony, Johnson said he was acting to “rein in this out of control administration. This means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids.
“The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago,” Johnson demanded. “The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy.”
🚨 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson just announced he signed an executive order creating "ICE Free Zones" to ban ICE agents from city property.
This is SICK. He is aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers. pic.twitter.com/LaMbxaqePP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 6, 2025
Instead of blaming Trump for Chicago’s self-inflicted crime crisis, Johnson might start by enforcing the laws already on the books. Demonizing a president won’t make the streets safer — but holding criminals accountable just might. Until he chooses that path, the carnage will continue, and the responsibility will rest squarely with City Hall.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
How about this, Mr Mayor – you give up any and all protection detail you may have and live amongst these criminals for a month with no special fortification of your dwelling.
If you survive, tell me you still hold the same opinions.
But also, anyone who attacks, threatens or steals from the mayor isn’t punished or penalized in any way.
“The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we have moved past that,” he said, adding, “It is racist. It is immoral. It is unholy and it is not the way to drive violence down.”
Best argument I’ve heard for capital punishment in a long time.
Dust off Old Sparky pronto,
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71DqeECmLzL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg
I agree with Knee Grow Brandon…we cannot incarcerate our way out of violent crime. We sure can shoot our way out of it, though.
instead of ol sparky .. may I suggest a rope, they are reusable
and when it is time to retire them they are biodegradable…
He’s been living amongst the criminals his whole life. They are his neighbors, cousins and friends. Hence the extreme reluctance to incarcerate blacks. Cook County board president Preckwinkle is on record complaining about “too many black men in jail”. She and mayor dummy are stupidly ignorant as most victims are also their neighbors, cousins and friends.
I believe that his position is widely held among liberals.
As an example, I served on a jury a couple of years ago. The charge was rape of a minor child. The evidence and testimony were overwhelming proof of guilt. In deliberations the first vote was 11 to 1 to convict the defendant.
After long deliberations the hold out finally voted a guilty verdict, and the defendant was convicted.
After the trial the hold out stopped me in the parking lot for a brief conversation. He essentially told me that he did not believe in sending people to prison.
Should have asked him for his address.
Was on a grand jury in the mid-70s. 1o whites, two blacks. The blacks voted against every indictment of another black – for anything and regardless of evidence.
Reparations in action!
Absent in this clip is him offering an alternative approach to crime and punishment, because he does not want to punish criminals. Least of all those who share his skin color.
I think we can all agree that continuous incarceration of repeat offenders has questionable effectiveness, especially on the vanishingly small number of offenders that are responsible for the vast majority of violent offenses. Mr Mayor is right about that, but fails to take the next step.
I think we all know what should happen to men who light random women on fire on the train with no rhyme reason or remorse, or stab them, or push them on the tracks. The question is why do we fight harder to protect their lives and freedoms at the expense of polite society
Incarceration of violent offenders prevents them from committing violence, mostly. They might vidtimize other violent offenders, but I don’t care. The guards need to be equipped and enabled to defend themselves, though.
“I think we can all agree that continuous incarceration of repeat offenders has questionable effectiveness, especially on the vanishingly small number of offenders that are responsible for the vast majority of violent offenses.”
No, we don’t agree. It’s axiomatic that a recidivist, criminal sociopath thug who is currently incarcerated is physically unable to commit additional crimes, as a result of his confinement. That’s the entire purpose of incarcerating criminals.
Your asinine statement ignores that obvious logic and thus you proffer an utterly fallacious and myopic assertion.
Continuous incarceration reduces the likelihood they will burn up young women in public
Chicago proper has between 2 and 3 million people. Let us assume 2 million. Long ago when I was learning how to deal with felonious types I had cited to me that about 3% of any statistically significant population group is hopelessly sociopathic or psychopathic. Which would mean about 60,000 out of a 2 million population. One can argue that Chicago has a higher percentage, but we will leave that for another time.
That 60,000 has abilities and intelligence spread along the Bell Curve, meaning that half of them are on the left hand side. So you have 30,000 or so hopelessly criminal types who are not too bright, which is why the get caught. By the way, the right hand side I suspect are politicians and other crooks running things.
The left hand side cannot be rehabbed. They are what they are. So in a best case situation [noting that Chicago proper may have 3 million people and there are 9 million in metro Chicago] you need to incarcerate 30,000 to at least to protect the law abiding [such as they are] in Chicago. There are not nearly that many from there incarcerated, and Chicago is hellhole and getting worse as it grows.
n.b.- I am a 28 year retired Peace Officer.
Subotai Bahadur
This is a garbage analysis since you fail to mention that the 30 percent of the population that is black has an average IQ of 85 and a 10 fold propensity towards violence. Stop with the phony, disinterested equality crap.
30%? More like 13%.
Chicago, you idiot.
That was totally uncalled for. I made a mistake. You could have responded civilly with a polite correction, but you went straight to name-calling?!
Jordan Peterson somewhere talks about the 10-20% of the population who are effectively a drain on society at large. They can’t hold a job. They have poor impulse control. They are ignorant and stupid. There is nothing society can do about them. You can’t educate them. You can’t fix them. All you can do is attempt to control them. These are the people that vote for that idiot mayor and who he wants to be able to run wild.
He’s absolutely wrong that jailing has been tried. It hasn’t at least in my lifetime. Please bargaining has always existed. Time off for good behavior has always existed. Light sentences have always existed. It has just gotten worse with DAs refusing to prosecute and judges these people off.
This must change.
Transportation to Alaska as the Brits used to do with Australia?
Please no. Our crime rate is worse than Chicago as it stands.
https://alaskapublic.org/news/public-safety/2025-10-28/chicago-and-most-cities-with-national-guard-deployments-are-safer-than-anchorage-stats-show
Maybe we could make one of the waaayyy far out there aleutians a prison colony.
”We have already tried that, and we have ended up with the largest prison population in the world, without solving the problems of crime and violence.”
There are two ways to empty prisons. You’re fixated on the wrong door.
“The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago,” Johnson demanded.”
What Would Harry Truman Do?
Racist, immoral and unholy:
1. Racist: Mayor Johnson is a racist
2. Immoral; Mayor Johnson is also immoral
3. Unholy: I dare say the mayor does not know the meaning of the word “unholy”.
It’s interesting that Chicago now gets more attention when the homicide number is significantly reduced, 150 fewer YTD than last year and 1/2 of the 2021 total. The reduction doesn’t seem to be due to more aggressive policing, better judges or better mayor. Looking back, seems like homicide numbers fluctuate in 3-4 year cycles. My theory is that the “community” kills off a lot of people that they feel need killing and it take a few years for that “basket” fills back up in order to start the cycle again. I remember reading a few years ago that >80% of Chicago homicide victims had had multiple felony arrests and a significant number of people identified as possible murders are killed before they can be prosecuted.
Removal of illegal aliens
The light shone on Chicago by HeyJackass.com is why it gets attention. Something similar for all the big cities would be welcome.
During 2017 and 2018, it was the height of fentanyl overdoses. There were towns around us that had huge numbers of overdose deaths…and crime dropped precipitatiously. It took years to build the criminal population back up.
Sounds like fentanyl is society’s best friend.
This analysis assumes the people who “need killing” are the ones who get killed. I would rather expect that selection operates in the opposite direction.
Is that a basket of deplorables?
Mayor Johnson is an evil piece of shit that doesn’t give a damn either about actual victims or true justice.
You’re going to reap exactly what you sow, you jackass.
He’s also a complete moron.
I see an Idiocracy remake with the mayor in a leading role in the near future!
It’s beyond time to build a fence around Chicago. Let the voters who allow this irrational dogmatism suffer the consequences of their actions. I only wish that I could come up with a plan to save those who are unable to flee this plague foisted on them by empty headed arrogant big mouths who think they know better.
The mayor is a moron.
I’m not one to support international fact finding trips but in this case I will.
Mr. Mayor needs to visit El Salvador, a nation that did exactly the opposite of what he is suggesting and has succeeded spectacularly.
Personally, I am tired of politicians that cloak themselves in self-righteous “social justice” that does nothing to protect the very people that simply want to live their lives peacefully.
Give cops their billy clubs back and tell them it’s ok to use them early and often when engaging with the criminal element.
I recall being in Boston many years ago and seeing a young thug giving two young cops a hard time. A more seasoned cop showed up, quickly sized up the situation, punched the punk in the belly, then the jaw. The punk fell to the ground, out cold.
You may be offended by such conduct but there are too many victims of subhuman filth that have no intention of following the law or being a productive member of society.
Two quick punches reorients the deviant, hopefully instilling in him that antisocial behavior results in great pain.
What good is “social justice” when it destroys the society?
Incarceration works. If every single nonwhite (without exception) were incarcerated, crime would plummet and the economic benefit would far exceed the cost of incarceration. Everyone knows this is true, but we live in a society that must lie about this.
Now, the Christian thing to do would be to find a humane solution that is honest about racial differences. Conservatives will always lose unless they start speaking out on this.
How about we just lock up the guilty? Most minorities are not violent, and if we started actually punishing crime, fewer would choose that route.
Paragraph one was not a prescription, but a true statement to make a point.
Paragraph two means locking up only the guilty and stop giving special preferential treatment to this group, but facilitating their self reliance based only on their inferior abilities.
But this would interfere with one’s enjoyment of cheap displays of self-congratulatory virtue.
If Brandon Johnson was on the gangs’ payroll, what would it be doing differently?
Ask Leland Yee.
If he hadn’t been caught, he’d be reaping profits from inner city violence.
Use a “3 strikes” rule. Convicts serve their full sentences for the first two offenses.
If the criminal commits a third offense, it is now obvious that rehabilitation is impossible. Hence, after your third conviction, the criminal is tossed into a pit along with other 3-strikers. I’m thinking something like the fictionalized “Turkish prison”. Each of them has proven they are worthless pieces of dung, so they should be treated accordingly.
Meanwhile two National Guard were just murdered in DC, I guess the perps should not be incarcerated, right Mr Mayor?
If his position is to let God sort it out, then he may have a point.
His position is that criminals should be allowed to prey on the innocent. He is the mayor of Chicago — a city run for the street gangs.
Should’ve added /s; guess it wasn’t obvious.
Let’s put el Presidente of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele in charge of Chicago’s police for a month and then check back.
How is it “racist” to keep violent people in minority communities from attacking minorities? Most of the victims of violence in Chicago are minorities — that “racism” would save minority lives!
The shitlibs insist that more blacks than whites get collared ONLY because they’re “criming while black” and the cops single them out. The excuse is flimsier than a stripper’s costume, but they all pretend it’s defensible.
We should start with incarcerating politicians and judges who don’t do their job of protecting the people from physical harm.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Guy was 100% spot-on. FAFO.
“It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people cant be governed at all. Or if they could I never heard of it.”
Sheriff Bell in No Country For Old Men
Cormac McCarthy
“Signs and wonders.”
Everything is racist to those people.
I sort of agree with this statement.
To end violence we need families that teach morals and societal values.
To end violence, we need an education system that actually educates.
To end violence, we need families with a father and a mother.
Of course, those are all the thing the left abhors and fights against.
We have had decades and generations where there is no internal basis for a person saying “this violence is wrong.” Instead, we have people who blame everyone but themselves for the violence they caused.
Incarceration has always been based on the idea that you are punishing the person for doing what they know is wrong and rehabilitate them. Without that moral foundation, the incarceration won’t rehabilitate anyone.
(As an aside, restitution should be mandatory for any crime where there is property damage or loss as well.)
It is far beyond time to play nice and cower in fear.
Remember playing Cowboys and Indians? We haven’t started playing Cowboys and Negroes yet. If whites aren’t allowed to enforce laws against blacks then blacks must be urged to self-enforce or face ostracism.
Cowboys and negroes – nature’s way.
The Mayor is right, we cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. Somewhere on the way to his 72 arrests the offender in the above example should have been deemed broken and unable to exist among us. Additionally, his potential value is exceeded by the resources needed to sustain him therefor he should be locked up until he perishes from dehydration. It’s cheap and solves the problem. Why are pragmatic solutions so hard for those with access to others resources?
“Teens”, eh?
Everyone knows which group is destroying Chicago and the other major blue cities but are so afraid of that group that it can’t even be named. Blacks are running wild with no consequences and the DNC likes it that way.
Rampant uncontrolled, antisocial crime is readily traceable to fatherless homes, largely resulting from AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). Daniel Patrick Moynihan had it nailed in 1965 and we’ve learned nothing since.
72 prior arrests? Incarceration would not rehabilitate, NOTHING will. What would be best for the criminal is to end his sorry life with a bullet to the back of the head.
Happy Thanksgiving.