Like every runner, I go through a standard checklist before I head out: shoes tied, phone charged, hydration ready, keys in my pocket — good to go.
But I’ve also got another checklist to review, one that every woman who runs will recognize.
I make sure it’s light out and that my route avoids solitary areas.
I let someone know where I’m going.
I lower the volume of my music so I can remain aware.
And I carry pepper spray because I never know who or what I’ll run into while I’m alone.
It’s sad that women have to take these precautions before they work out.
It’s sadder still that some women never come home from their runs at all.
By all accounts, Alyssa Lokits also did everything she could to be safe.
She went for a run near her Nashville, Tenn. home when it was still light out. She chose a trail where other people were around and within earshot. And when she was attacked, she fought back.
However, the elected officials charged with public safety failed to do their part to keep Lokits safe.
She was murdered on Oct. 14 when her alleged killer pulled her off the trail, attempted to sexually assault her, and then shot her.
Her alleged attacker, of course, had prior offenses.
Unaccountable prosecutors — many of them politically motivated and guided by radical leftist ideology — routinely allow repeat, violent offenders to roam free.
Far too often, these soft-on-crime policies result in female runners never making it home.
Eliza Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher in Memphis, Tenn., was on a morning run in 2022 when she was forced into a vehicle and shot in the back of the head.
Her killer had been arrested every single year — on charges including rape and kidnapping — from 1995 to 2000.
He had been released early from a 24-year prison sentence.
Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, was running in the middle of the day early this year when she was dragged to a secluded area, assaulted and murdered.
Her alleged killer, an illegal immigrant, had been detained in 2022 but released — then, after committing multiple additional crimes, released again.
All these women just wanted to go for a run.
But because of government policies that allowed violent offenders to walk free, they never made it home.
How many candlelight vigils, memorial runs and devastated communities will it take before prosecutors get serious about keeping dangerous people off America’s streets?
The world is a dangerous place, and to some degree, going for a run is always a risk.
But that risk should be limited to sprained ankles, shin splints, steep hills and maybe a barking dog or two.
The consequences for some women shouldn’t be violent attacks or death.
The consequences for families shouldn’t be never seeing their loved ones again.
But the trend on the left over the past decade has been to tilt the scales of justice in favor of the criminals — and against victims and future victims.
However, there’s been a palpable shift in tone after November’s election.
Mayor Adams, to his credit, has recently talked tough about deporting migrants who commit crime in New York City.
Voters this year spoke up loudly — even in left-leaning California, where they overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, a ballot measure that re-elevated certain misdemeanors and drug possession to felonies and made punishment harsher.
It’s a step in the right direction to end the “soft on crime” movement, but it’s not moving fast enough for women joggers trying to outrun their attackers.
States like Florida have shown what Americans can and should expect of their elected leaders, introducing real consequences for criminal prosecutors who refuse to prosecute criminals.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has fired two rogue prosecutors for neglecting their duties to enforce the law, and can assign a new prosecutor in cases where a district attorney fails to do his or her job.
Under the law, actions should have consequences — and the failure to act should have consequences, too.
Our laws should mean something.
More states need to follow Florida’s lead. And Adams needs to make good on his tough talk.
Voters from coast to coast have signaled that’s what they want.
It shouldn’t be radical for a woman to be able to go for a run without risking death because a criminal walked free when he shouldn’t have.
Sarah Coffey, an avid runner, is senior editor at the Foundation for Government Accountability.
