In the wake of Mayor Sam Joshi’s emotional calls for stricter penalties and punitive measures following a recent carjacking attempt, former Edison resident Lisa McCormick has expressed disappointment and concern.
A progressive activist who took four of ten votes away from US Senator Bob Menendez in the 2018 Democratic primary election, McCormick is known for her advocacy for evidence-based policies and criminal justice reform.
She suggested that Joshi, Edison’s first South Asian mayor, “should stop watching Fox News.”
McCormick said that Joshi’s comments about immigrants and crime are “disturbing” because they reflect the same unthinking, emotional mob mentality that is fueling Donald Trump’s unAmerican MAGA movement.
Noting that he made derisive comments about immigrants after buses from Texas recently arrived in New Jersey and ignorant reaction to one recent crime, McCormick pointed out the flaws in Joshi’s approach, highlighting the ineffectiveness of strategies that sound tough but have proved over time to be entirely useless.
“I want to be very clear – if any bus, train or plane of illegal migrants come to Edison, I have instructed our law enforcement and emergency management departments to charter a bus to transport the illegal migrants right back to the southern Texas/Mexican border,” Joshi wrote on Facebook.
In January, Joshi said Edison does not have the financial resources to provide services to asylum seekers after two buses filled with undocumented migrants arrived in the township, but McCormick noted that he has placed 70 automated license plate readers across the township.
“Mayor Joshi should turn off his Fox News channel and stop wasting money on high-speed, computer-controlled camera systems that can be used to track and record the movements of ordinary people who visit sensitive locations such as abortion clinics, union halls, places of religious worship, even though the overwhelming majority of such drivers are not connected to a crime,” said McCormick.
Joshi’s vocal anger and demand for harsher measures in response to the assault and attempted carjacking at the Patel Brothers grocery store raised eyebrows among residents and community leaders alike as the outraged Mayor says the incident is galvanizing him to call for stricter penalties and more accountability for crimes involving juveniles.
The attack at the store located at 1681 Oak Tree Road took place at about 5 p.m. on Friday, March 15, 2024, and is currently under investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Detective Chris Paone of the Edison Police Burglary Unit via email at cpaone@edisonpd.org or by calling 732-248-7413.
In response, Joshi said he is “breaking ranks with his Democratic peers by demanding stricter criminal penalties and more accountability for juveniles who are convicted of serious crimes, including home invasion, robbery, and auto theft.”
However, McCormick, a product of the Edison Township public schools who attended Martin Luther King Elementary School and graduated from J.P. Stevens High School, cautioned against the pitfalls of reactionary crime policies that prioritize punitive actions over holistic solutions, drawing from decades of research and historical context.
“It is disappointing to see Mayor Joshi’s anger clouding his judgment and leading to knee-jerk reactions that are not grounded in evidence or effectiveness,” said McCormick. “The misguided belief that ‘tough on crime’ strategies will magically solve complex social issues has been debunked time and again, particularly in the context of the failed ‘war on drugs’ spanning half a century.”
“Humans do not dominate the planet because we are the animals with the sharpest teeth, we are not the strongest, or fastest or biggest creatures but we are the most dangerous because we have unequaled brains,” said McCormick. “Only when we start using them can we succeed in overcoming all threats including fear with logic and reason. Retreating into the reptilian instincts of fear and hate will only blind us to the simple reality that we cannot solve problems with violence or cowardice.”
McCormick says Joshi’s response is a failure to acknowledge the lessons learned from decades of failed policies that show punitive approaches have disproportionately impacted marginalized communities and only promise to exacerbate systemic issues in the criminal justice system.
“The data clearly shows that simply imposing harsher penalties and focusing on punitive measures do little to deter crime in the long term,” McCormick said. “We need to move beyond reactionary responses and embrace evidence-based strategies that address root causes, promote rehabilitation, and prioritize community safety.”
Joshi’s insistence on returning to strategies that have proven ineffective raises concerns about the direction of crime prevention efforts in Edison.
McCormick emphasized the importance of evidence-based policies, community engagement, and proactive approaches to crime prevention that go beyond punitive measures. She noted that five days after the attack, police have not identified or captured any suspects.
“Before he can impose draconian punishment, Mayor Joshi must nab someone and justice demands that this would mean the people who committed the crime,” said McCormick. “A mob-style lynching might assuage some anger, but it would be morally bankrupt and throwing the wrong person in prison certainly won’t prevent these culprits from striking again.
Joshi called on the state legislature to enact tougher laws that would detain repeat offenders pending trial, allow greater discretion for bail sentencing, change the classification to increase the severity of these crimes and address the backlog that allows prosecutors to impose longer criminal sentences for juveniles.
McCormick said there is no evidence to support Joshi’s assertion, “Our police department and courts are being undermined and compromised by state policy and inaction.”
“As a community, we must prioritize solutions that are backed by research, promote fairness, and address the underlying social factors that contribute to criminal behavior,” said McCormick. “Blindly advocating for ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric without considering its real-world impacts is a disservice to our community and undermines efforts to create a safer and more just society.”
Lisa McCormick’s dispassionate critique of Mayor Sam Joshi’s reactionary crime policies underscores the need for thoughtful, evidence-based approaches to addressing crime and promoting public safety in Edison and beyond.