NC Gov. Josh Stein Chooses Softness Over Safety | The American Spectator

When a governor is asked a simple yes-or-no question about a bill that could save lives, the public deserves a straight answer. Yet when North Carolina Governor Josh Stein was asked if he would sign Iryna’s Law — a sweeping criminal justice bill named after Iryna Zarutska, a young woman murdered on Charlotte’s transit system — he dodged. He praised Iryna as “a light and a special person” but refused to say whether he supported the law.

That is not leadership. That is hedging. And hedging, in this case, is another word for weakness.

Iryna’s Law (House Bill 307) passed the state House by 81–31 and the Senate by 28–8. It tightens bail conditions for violent offenders, requires written findings from judges on pretrial release, mandates mental health evaluations for defendants with recent involuntary commitments, and imposes stricter timelines on death penalty appeals. In short, it’s a serious attempt to correct the revolving-door justice that lets dangerous offenders back on the street.

Yet instead of taking a stand, Governor Stein chose ambiguity. Why? Because the Democratic Party has trapped itself in a culture of softness. To endorse Iryna’s Law outright would offend the party’s progressive flank, which treats pretrial detention as “oppression” and views tough sentencing as “disproportionate.” So the governor smiles, praises the victim, and ducks the question.

But when leaders refuse to commit, victims pay the price.

A serious Democrat — one who actually put public safety above party ideology — would not dodge. They would come to the table ready to strengthen Iryna’s Law, not dilute it. And the place to strengthen it most is the very area where liberals always claim conservatives don’t care: mental health.

The truth is, conservatives do care. But unlike Democrats, we don’t confuse softness with compassion. Real compassion is making sure the mentally ill don’t cycle in and out of jails until another family is destroyed. Real compassion is ensuring that public safety — not political convenience — comes first.

If Stein truly cared about safety, he’d work with lawmakers to toughen the mental health provisions of Iryna’s Law. A conservative approach would look like this:

• Crisis Intervention & Diversion Programs. Expand specialized mental health courts and diversion tracks so that repeat offenders with clear psychiatric issues are evaluated and treated immediately — not dumped back onto the streets. Pair law enforcement with crisis response teams to handle cases before they spiral into violence.
• Accountability With Treatment. Make treatment compliance — counseling, medication, rehab — a condition of bail or parole. If a defendant refuses treatment, courts should weigh that as a serious public safety risk.
• Real-Time Data Sharing. Require hospitals, mental health facilities, and law enforcement to share information on involuntary commitments and violent incidents. A magistrate can’t make an informed bail decision if they don’t have the full picture.
• Victim-Centered Bail Decisions. Mandate that victims’ families are heard in bail hearings. Their safety and peace of mind should matter more than the defendant’s convenience.
• Community-Based Investment. Fund local mental health clinics and rapid-evaluation centers instead of bloated bureaucracies. A county should be able to stabilize an offender before tragedy strikes, not after.

This is what serious public safety reform looks like. It’s not just “lock them up and throw away the key.” It’s discipline with compassion, order with humanity, justice with foresight. Conservatives can champion this balance without apologizing for putting the innocent first.

Contrast that with Governor Stein’s approach: evasive platitudes and political self-preservation. His refusal to give a straight answer is not neutrality — it’s negligence. It signals to criminals that the system is negotiable. It signals to victims’ families that justice is optional. And it signals to the public that when it comes to protecting them, their governor prefers hedging over courage.

Iryna Zarutska didn’t die because North Carolina was too tough on crime. She died because the system was too soft. She died because violent offenders were given another chance by judges who weren’t held accountable. She died because our leaders value ideological purity more than innocent lives.

And yet, faced with a bill designed to prevent another tragedy, the governor still can’t muster a yes or no.

This is the cultural rot of modern Democratic politics: a belief that clarity is dangerous, that toughness is cruel, and that hedging is somehow virtuous. But ambiguity is not virtue. Ambiguity is weakness. And weakness, in matters of public safety, kills.

If Democrats were serious about protecting people, they’d sit down with Republicans to strengthen Iryna’s Law, not waffle about it. If Governor Stein were serious, he’d stop dodging and start leading. The fact that he hasn’t tells us everything we need to know.

Conservatives don’t have to apologize for caring about victims first. We don’t have to pretend that “softness” is compassion. We know that real compassion is protecting the innocent before the next tragedy happens.

Iryna’s Law deserves more than platitudes. North Carolina deserves more than evasions. And victims deserve more than weakness masquerading as leadership.

READ MORE from David Sypher Jr.:

The Mississippi Miracle: What Real Respect for Black Students Looks Like

We Told People Not to Have Kids — Now We’re Surprised They Listened

New York’s Congestion Pricing Class War