North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper lied to reporters when asked about his soft-on-crime record at a recent campaign appearance.
When asked about his record, Cooper said, “Independent fact checks show most of what they’re saying is simply not true. I’m the only one in this race who’s actually prosecuted violent criminals and worked to keep them behind bars.”
In this matter, it is Cooper who is not telling the truth.
Court and public records confirm that Cooper settled a lawsuit filed by far-left groups in order to release a minimum of 3,500 convicted criminals from prison — the only governor in the country who signed a legally binding agreement requiring their state to release prisoners, as Breitbart News previously reported. The total ended up being 4,200.
Cooper’s campaign has sought to discredit reporting that DeCarlos Brown, the man charged in the murder of Iryna Zarutska, was on the early release list. However, his offender identification number appears on a list Cooper’s administration hid from public view until a Fox News Digital story reported on the case.
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The New York Post published a lengthy review earlier this year of the released convicts, finding that nearly half went on to commit more crimes including 18 murders and over 600 felonies.
In the Post story, North Carolina’s Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission found in a 2024 report that the recidivism rate for the 3,500 released as part of the settlement was 48 percent, higher than the rate for the nearly 13,000 released over the course of fiscal year 2021 (44 percent).
Breitbart News reported on Cooper’s 2020 soft-on-crime manifesto last week.
The Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, established in an executive order in the days following the George Floyd riots, created a 166-page report listing 125 recommendations aimed at weakening public safety in the Tar Heel state.
The recommendations include calls for more social workers and fewer police officers, promoting diversion and other alternatives to arrest, calling on police to peacefully facilitate protests and demonstrations, widening prosecutorial discretion, decriminalizing marijuana possession, shrinking the criminal code, reducing misdemeanor charges, and ending cash bail.
Additionally, as governor, Cooper vetoed legislation requiring cooperation with ICE detainers, increasing penalties for rioting, and allowing more juvenile crimes to move into the justice system.
As North Carolina Attorney General from 2001-2017, Cooper is most known for allowing the state’s rape kit backlog to reach over 16,000 untested kits, the highest of any state in the country.