The man who set a woman on fire inside a Chicago commuter train is a serial offender who had been convicted more than 15 times and arrested 72 times in Cook County alone. Chicago does not take violent crime seriously, and only 13% of all violent criminals are even arrested there.
Lawrence Reed poured gasoline on a woman and chased her through a Chicago train car before setting her on fire. When he was later arrested, Reed shouted “burn alive bitch.” Then he was charged with committing a terrorist attack on November 19.
He was free to commit this heinous act because of “Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez (D) who let Lawrence Reed out before he lit a woman on fire despite prosecutors begging to keep him detained and 72 prior arrests.” The judge “basically admits she’s a DEI hire and rules based on how people look,” an observer notes.
Cops said that when they arrested Reed on November 18, he made incriminating statements about the attack. He also had burns on his right hand.
Reed carried out the attack “with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury” on the train, a federal investigator with ATF said.
Lawrence Reed, 50, poured gasoline over a 26-year-old woman on a CTA Blue Line train and set her on fire on the morning of November 17.
Reed was out on pretrial release at the time he set the woman on fire, for an aggravated battery charge.
Despite having been convicted 15 times, “the maniac never served any time and was only given probation despite being convicted of the arson incident in April 2020,” a court document said.
At a news conference after Reed’s arrest, federal officials expressed disgust that he was free at the time of the attack, despite his long criminal history.
“Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets given that his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases,” ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Amon said.
“Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system and as a result, you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life,” Amon observed.
Asked about Reed’s mental health, US Attorney Andrew Boutros said Reed had never been declared mentally incompetent.
The terrorism charge against Reed carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, “It is incredibly cruel of so many judges to push murderous thugs on the innocent public! And double shame on anyone who funds them to do so.”
Earlier, Secretary Sean Duffy said, “It is devastating that a career criminal with 72 PRIOR ARRESTS is now accused of attacking 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on Chicago’s L train, and setting her on fire.”
“This would never have happened if this thug had been behind bars. Yet Chicago lets repeat offenders roam the streets,” he said.
“Chicago’s carelessness is putting the American people at risk. No one should ever have to fear for their life on the subway,” he added.
“Chicago Police data shows residents suffered 29,677 violent crimes in the 12 months through August – the highest level in the past five years.” But only 13% of the criminals were arrested, notes the Illinois Policy Institute:
Thanks to crime havens like Chicago, the U.S. solves only about half of all murders. As a result of low rates of catching criminals, “America incarcerates fewer people per homicide than countries like Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria,” according data provided by Professor Justin Nix. America needs to incarcerate more killers and violent criminals.
As Joe Friday notes at DC Crime Facts, “One of the most basic and consistent findings in criminology research is that increasing the certainty that a criminal is caught is by far the most effective way to deter criminals for committing more crimes.” But low rates of catching criminals in the U.S. make punishment seem unlikely and uncertain, emboldening offenders to commit crimes in the belief that they will probably get away with it.
To catch more criminals, America may need to spend more on its police. Europe spends more of its economy on its police than the U.S. does (it also has a lower murder rate, less than half of America’s). “London has almost double the police officers (~4.4/10k) and constables per capita of San Francisco (~2.4/10k). Paris has almost more than 600% more police per capita (~15/10k) than San Francisco,” Kane says. As Daniel Bier notes, “As a share of GDP, the EU [European Union] spends 33% more than the US on police.” “European countries almost uniformly spend a much larger share on police than US states, though just how much larger varies wildly.”
Catching criminals and keeping them in jail lowers the crime rate, by keeping repeat offenders locked up where they can’t commit more crimes. The typical state prison inmate has five prior offenses, and they commit more crimes after you let them out: 81.9% of state prison inmates released in 2008 were arrested again within a decade. Letting inmates out early increases the murder rate: Most murders in Baltimore are committed by people who previously were convicted of a serious crime, but didn’t serve a lengthy sentence for that crime.
A peer-reviewed 2014 study in the American Economic Journal found that incarceration reduces crime through incapacitation. Studies also find that longer sentences also deter crime better.
When El Salvador increased its incarceration rate, its murder rate fell dramatically, and violence and crime fell enormously. Jailing more criminals saved thousands of lives in El Salvador.
