Although most Democrats are currently memory-holing their “Defund the police” demands from 2020, the facts on the ground show that, wherever they have control, crime itself is being decriminalized. A grotesque story from Haiti reveals where a society goes when its government abandons the rule of law.

In one American city after another, leftist prosecutors (whether Soros-funded or not), often with the help of leftist judges, are refusing to enforce the law against criminals. The most recent example comes from Chicago. There, a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old—both old enough, according to the left, to “choose” their gender and use toxic drugs and mutilating surgery to achieve that “choice”—stole a car and promptly crashed into another car. In that second car was a 34-year-old mother with her three children, aged 15, 7, and 6 months. The crash killed the baby.

In a sane world, the 17-year-old would be tried as an adult for murder (probably second-degree), while the 14-year-old would spend the next seven years in juvenile detention. However, Chicago is not a sane world; it is a leftist world. That’s why the prosecutor charged the boys with…wait for it…a misdemeanor for criminal trespassing. Again, they stole a car, drove it recklessly, and killed a baby, which equals three separate felonies. The news is filled with stories like this, with unquestioned crimes being undercharged or dismissed.

Image: Vigilante justice in Haiti. YouTube screen grab.

Just the other day, a South Carolina judge secretly released a murderer, who had been sentenced to 35 years for shooting someone, after he’d served less than half of his sentence. Had there been a legitimate hearing, the judge might have learned that the person testifying on the killer’s behalf was a security guard who was also his lover. Due process is meant to capture little details like that.

There’s also the revolving door of justice. The New York Times reports that only 327 people are responsible for a third of all shoplifting arrests. The same is true in other cities. Seattle, once a lovely, safe city, has devolved into a “defund the police,” decarceration hellhole. Much of that crime came from the same 120 people who “caused more than 2,400 criminal cases throughout Seattle in five years.” Luckily for Seattle citizens, the City Attorney’s Office is finally holding “high utilizers” to account instead of pushing them through and out of the system.

The way to keep a community safe is to have clear criminal laws, a functioning police force, and judges and prosecutors who enforce the laws once people end up in the system. Strict adherence to due process ensures that those same law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges do not abuse people in the criminal justice system. And of course, the law must be applied as even-handedly as possible, without regard for tribal or political allegiances.

When the system breaks down, bad things happen. And the worst thing is when a citizenry, recognizing that the government is no longer serving its function of maintaining law and order, takes the law into its own hands. That’s what happened in Haiti, where anarchy reigns:

This is the horrifying moment suspected Haitian gang members beg for mercy before a vigilante lynch mob stones and burns them alive.

The mob beat and burned 13 men to death with gasoline-soaked tyres on Monday after pulling them from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses in the capital Port-au-Prince said.

Six more burned bodies were seen in a nearby neighbourhood later on in the day, and witnesses claimed to have seen police kill them before residents set them on fire. News agencies said this could not be verified.

Haiti's National Police said in a brief statement that officers in the city's Canape Vert section had stopped and searched a minibus for contraband.

The officers confiscated weapons from suspects before they were 'unfortunately lynched by members of the population', the officials said. The statement did not elaborate on how members of the crowd were able to take control of the suspects.

Watch the video at your own risk: 

This type of tire execution lynching has been a staple in South Africa, another place in which the rule of law is gone. This is where leftists are driving ordinary Americans. If the government refuses to enforce the law and protect law-abiding citizens, the citizens will do whatever it takes to protect themselves.