Daniel Penny’s acquittal on manslaughter and negligent homicide charges in New York is something to celebrate. But the fact that he was indicted in the first place shows how grotesquely politicized the justice system has become in too many left-dominated American cities.
Penny’s prosecution is an example of what some on the right call “anarcho-tyranny,” referring to an approach to government in which criminals are left unmolested while the law abiding are subjected to heavy-handed government regulation and force. Under anarcho-tyranny, the government declines to carry out its basic public-safety functions, leaving disorder and even violence in the streets, even as ordinary citizens are excessively regulated, harassed, or prosecuted by the state.