“I will fight until my last breath for my daughter. You need to fight for the rest of our children, the rest of the innocents, and stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us, please.”

Those were the words of Stephen Federico, the father of a 22-year-old woman who was allegedly killed by a man with a criminal record spanning 40 charges in the years leading up to her murder. Federico gave impassioned testimony about the urgent need to keep more criminals behind bars during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday.

Federico’s heartbreaking testimony vividly highlighted one of the clearest reasons America’s Democrat-run cities face serious crime problems: repeat offenders are frequently released back onto the streets despite numerous chances given by authorities.

It’s hard to listen to Federico speak about his daughter’s slaying without feeling enraged.

“Bang. Dead. Gone. Why? Because Alexander Devante Dickey, who was arrested 39 times, including 25 felonies, was on the street. My daughter was forced on her knees, with her hands over her head, begging for her life, begging for her hero—her father, me—that couldn’t be there. She was 5-foot-3, 115 pounds. My daughter wanted to be a teacher. She finally figured it out two weeks before she was executed,” Federico said.

“And you will not forget her. I promise you: You will be sick and tired of my face and my voice until this gets fixed. I will fight until my last breath for my daughter.”

Federico, along with several other witnesses, testified following the brutal killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte, North Carolina train—an incident that captured national headlines in September.

Zarutska was allegedly stabbed to death by Decarlos Brown Jr., a man with a lengthy criminal record and a history of mental illness. Brown’s own mother insisted he should have never been on the street.

Incidents like the tragedies involving Zarutska and Federico’s daughter are not just heartbreaking stories; they represent severe and intolerable breaches of justice. Their killers should never have been free to commit such heinous acts.

Despite receiving countless opportunities to prove they could be less dangerous to themselves and the public, these offenders caused irreversible harm. Meanwhile, their victims are denied any second chance at life.

In the wake of the Charlotte killing, I argued that America needs a national reckoning on crime similar to the one in the 1990s. The “Defund the Police” movement, which emerged in 2020 and quickly faded after a sharp rise in crime, got almost everything wrong.

America did not need to defund the police or abolish prisons—as some radical activists suggested. Instead, the focus must return to targeted policing and extended prison sentences for repeat offenders. Those with mental illnesses require proper institutionalization.

A disproportionate number of crimes in the U.S. are committed by the same small group of repeat offenders. From shoplifting and car theft to assaults on public transportation, a majority of crimes are linked to habitual lawbreakers. Murders, too, are often committed by individuals with extensive criminal histories.

Why does this problem seem to plague large, left-leaning cities the most? Because they are often controlled by politicians with an inverted sense of justice. Their compassion extends primarily to criminals—viewed as victims of systemic issues like inequality, racism, and sexism—while the traditional victims are often dismissed as collateral damage of systemic injustice.

This line of thinking suggests that individuals committing crimes need compassion rather than increased punishment. Consequently, policies in these areas often prioritize rehabilitation over incarceration and offer weaker penalties for offenders.

Unfortunately, these approaches have not worked. They have created conditions that allow sustained elevated crime rates and an overwhelming sense of urban chaos. Law-abiding citizens suffer because dangerous criminals and the mentally unstable are set free.

Rafael Mangual, author of the insightful book *Criminal [In]justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most*, recently co-wrote an article in *The Atlantic* addressing this very issue. He argued that the murders of Zarutska, Federico’s daughter, and many others should have been prevented by the criminal justice and mental health systems. Yet, in recent years, these systems have been weakened, and their effectiveness deliberately diminished.

Mangual and his co-author, Charles Fain Lehman, recommend stopping high-frequency offenders through meaningful and mandatory sentencing enhancements based on criminal history. They propose a point system akin to the “three strikes” laws popularized in the 1990s, ensuring that repeat offenders are removed from society.

By strengthening and recommitting to “three strikes” type laws, we can drastically reduce crime rates moving forward.

With renewed dedication to justice, we can make our homes, streets, parks, subway lines, towns, and cities safe places to live, thrive, and enjoy—free from fear.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/10/02/enraged-father-of-slain-woman-makes-the-case-keeping-repeat-criminals-behind-bars/