Families at the “Victims of Violent Crime” hearing in Charlotte had a clear message: our justice system is working harder to protect criminals than the people they’ve hurt.
The U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight came to Charlotte to talk about violent crime, repeat offenders, and policies that put dangerous people back on the streets. The hearing was sparked by the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarustka, who was stabbed to death on a city light rail train.
The families who testified didn’t speak in statistics or legal jargon, they spoke from heartbreak. Their stories showed exactly what happens when a justice system prioritizes the comfort of offenders over the rights of victims.
Mia Alderman, grandmother of Charlotte murder victim Mary Collins, described how a lack of swift prosecution has compounded her family’s anguish. Five years after Mary’s death, the case has yet to go to trial. Two of the accused were released on bond, and one remains free even after repeated curfew and ankle monitor violations. “Five years is not justice, five years is torment,” Alderman said. She told lawmakers that her family is living with a life sentence of grief while the accused walk free. District attorneys have even admitted to her that murder trials in Mecklenburg County are five to seven years behind schedule.
The anguish reflected in the testimony of Steve Federico, whose daughter, Logan, was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina. Her killer had been arrested 39 times in ten years, including for 25 felonies. By any reasonable standard, he should have been behind bars for more than 140 years based on his record, yet he spent less than 2 years incarcerated. After Logan’s murder, Federico said her killer went on a spending spree with her debit card. Officers immediately identified him from surveillance video because he had been arrested numerous times. “South Carolina failed Logan,” Federico said. “I will fight until my last breath for my daughter.” And calling upon Congress, he demanded, “You need to fight for the rest of our children.”
Officer Justin Campbell, a police officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, echoed those concerns, noting how repeat offenders are often back on the streets before the paperwork from their latest arrest is even finished. Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey lamented his concerns and told the grieving families, “We will support you shoulder to shoulder [. . .] All of us know it could be any of us. It is time to do the right thing.”
But what is the right thing? Clearly, as painted through the testimony from this hearing, delayed prosecutions and the endless cycling of career criminals through a broken system have created an environment where victims and their families are left without justice. Data showing that crime is going down will not make us feel safer nor provide solace to Alderman, Federico, and countless others. But we do know – as Rep. Kevin Kiley of California aptly pointed out – that “the best deterrent of crime is the certainty of punishment.” The message was clear: justice delayed is justice denied, and until accountability becomes the standard, families will continue to suffer while violent offenders are set free.