Source: (PHOTO: Eric Berman/WIBC)
MARION COUNTY, Ind. — The answer to bringing down violent crime in Indianapolis isn’t simple, but it is achievable says the county prosecutor.
Whether you live in Indianapolis or not, you’ve likely heard concerns from politicians, police, and everyday people that there’s a “revolving door” of criminal justice in Marion County, with “sweetheart” plea deals and violent criminals being let back out on the street.
Republicans tend to blame two people: Mayor Joe Hogsett and Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, both Democrats.
In an interview with Indy Politics, Prosecutor Ryan Mears says the issue with violent crime is a complex one made of several different factors that everyone in the community must address together.
“One of the things we need to work one is how can we partner up with law enforcement and be more proactive in working with young people to keep those guns out of young people’s hands,” says Prosecutor Mears, “I think the second part of it too is we have to work on some of these systematic issues that makes it cool for kids to have a gun, and also do kids feel like they need to have a gun for protection.”
Mears says there’s far too many guns throughout Marion County, as evident by the Indianapolis Metro Police Department taking over 5,000 guns off the streets in 2023. But Mears says police can’t be as proactive as they could’ve been in the past, given new state laws allowing people to carry guns without permits.
“There’s some concern about that (being proactive) in terms of who’s a prohibited person, who’s not a prohibited person. And so, I think law enforcement is trying to adjust to the new legal situation that we now find ourselves in,” Mears explains.
Over the course of the near 20-minute Indy Politics interview, Prosecutor Mears also addresses the “revolving door” and “sweetheart” plea deal criticism of his office. Mears says 33-percent of the people tried for murder in 2023, by far the largest number of cases taken to court, had suspects with no prior history of violent criminal acts.
Mears says even with the dozen or so homicides so far this year, about half of those cases are currently being investigated as possible self-defense cases.
When it comes to plea deals, Mears says they’re not “sweetheart” deals but complex deals that can be adjusted for a variety of reasons between the parties involved.
He explains, “plea agreements happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they happen because the state has a really good case, like in those 15 murder cases (from 2023) where people pled guilty to murder. In other times, you have witness issues. In other situations, maybe you have a situation where you talk to the victim and maybe their perspective has changed. They’ll say ‘hey, this is what I’d like to see come out of this particular case’.”
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has been a constant target of criticism from local leaders like Rick Snyder, President of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police. He says the prosecutor’s office isn’t aggressive enough when it comes to charges and making sure offenders stay behind bars.
The prosecutor’s office says the most tried cases of 2023 were, in no particular order, murder, child molesting, battery, domestic battery and serious violent felon cases.
