Prevention Is Not a Substitute for Public Safety - The False Framing in Mayor Johnson’s Policy Positions

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s assertion that “we cannot incarcerate our way out of violence” begins with a false framing of the public-safety question. Nobody serious is arguing that incarceration, standing alone, eradicates violence.

That is not its primary purpose. One of incarceration’s essential functions is incapacitation: separating individuals who have demonstrated that they present a serious threat to public safety from the communities they would otherwise be free to victimize. The continued existence of violence does not invalidate that function.

Johnson’s framing contrasts incarceration with investments in housing, mental-health treatment, and other preventive services, while characterizing the nation’s reliance on incarceration as “racist,” “immoral,” and “unholy” (CNN, 2025). Although he also endorsed constitutional policing and holding offenders accountable in that speech, this contrast obscures the distinct responsibilities involved. Chicago can invest in preventive services while simultaneously maintaining sufficient police staffing to identify and apprehend dangerous offenders and supporting lawful incapacitation when warranted. Prevention and enforcement are complementary functions, not mutually exclusive philosophies.

Johnson’s spending priorities make this distinction particularly relevant.

On June 25, 2026, he established an Office of Gun Violence Reduction within the mayor’s office. At the announcement, Johnson stated that Chicago was already spending more than $150 million combating gun violence, an amount he characterized as insufficient. Separately, proponents proposed a permanent department with an approximately $100 million budget drawn from existing public-safety expenditures. That proposal would replace the existing Office of Community Safety; it did not represent an approved $100 million increase in spending (Miller, 2026; Spielman, 2026).

Meanwhile, during November 2025 hearings on the proposed 2026 budget, police officials described a plan to retain 984 vacant police positions while budgeting less money for anticipated vacancies. They outlined hiring of roughly 50 recruits per month and a summer pause in recruit classes as part of an effort to generate approximately $91 million in turnover savings. These were announced plans, not verified measures of actual hiring or savings during 2026 (Spielman, 2025).

These figures raise a legitimate question about the administration’s allocation of public-safety resources. Officials proposed reorganizing prevention efforts while relying on slower police hiring and anticipated vacancies to achieve budget savings. The cited reporting does not establish that money from those vacancies was transferred to the new office. It does, however, provide grounds to ask whether the administration’s approach adequately supports both prevention and enforcement.

The administration should also demonstrate whether the new office improves outcomes beyond those achieved by existing programs. Its announced responsibilities included data collection and monthly progress reports. Those requirements should provide a basis for evaluating results, rather than assuming that organizational changes necessarily produce additional public safety (Spielman, 2026).

Housing does not apprehend an armed robber. Mental-health programming does not investigate a homicide. A violence-prevention office does not incapacitate a repeat violent offender. These institutions serve different purposes, and no amount of investment in one eliminates the necessity of the others.

The fundamental objection to Johnson’s argument is therefore straightforward: incarceration does not have to eliminate violence to justify its legitimate public-safety function. Prevention addresses the conditions that may contribute to criminal behavior; enforcement and incapacitation address criminal conduct and the immediate threats posed by dangerous offenders. A comprehensive approach must support both responsibilities through its rhetoric, its staffing decisions, and its allocation of resources.

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References

CNN. (2025, August 25). The Arena with Kasie Hunt [Television broadcast transcript].Read transcript

Miller, V. (2026, June 22). Chicago government leaders, advocates call for creation of a city Department of Gun Violence Reduction. WBEZ Chicago.Read article

Spielman, F. (2025, November 5). CPD to slow hiring, pause academy training next summer to cut costs, superintendent says. Chicago Sun-Times.Read article

Spielman, F. (2026, June 25). Mayor Johnson takes first step toward creating stand-alone city department to reduce gun violence. Chicago Sun-Times.Read article