A brand new report is making waves all over the country as it accuses Vice President Kamala Harris of plagiarizing huge chunks of her 2009 book, Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer. Christopher F. Rufo, a conservative activist is the one who reported on the news on Monday, just as Harris resumed her trek along the campaign trail.
Rufo provided several instances of the alleged plagiarism from the book, which she used a ghostwriter — Joan O’C Hamilton — to pen. This particular book is what helped Harris build a reputation as someone who was focused on criminal justice reform during the time she was campaigning to become California’s Attorney General. Of course, we know how her time in office went. She incarcerated a record number of black men while in that position. Keep that in mind if you’re considering voting for her in the election.
Many sections of Harris’ book contain what appear to be copy-and-paste portions from a bunch of different sources, including news publications, government reports, and even Wikipedia. Yikes.
EXCLUSIVE: Kamala Harris plagiarized at least a dozen sections of her criminal-justice book, Smart on Crime, according to a new investigation. The current vice president even lifted material from Wikipedia.
We have the receipts. 🧵
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2024
One of the first passages discussed by Rufo is when Harris took whole passages about high school graduation rates from a report by NBC News. The problem, of course, is that she did not cite the report as the source of the information. And the text from the vice president’s book is almost exactly word for word the section found in the original NBC report, absent any proper attribution.
We can begin with a passage in which Harris discusses high school graduation rates. Here, she lifted verbatim language from an uncited AP/NBC News report: pic.twitter.com/pZv5mD3m5t
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2024
One of the most significant instances of plagiarism identified involves text from a press release by John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In the book, Harris describes a drug prevention strategy implemented in High Point, North Carolina, which had been outlined in the press release. Rufo notes that Harris and her co-author failed to provide any attribution, instead passing off the detailed language as their own. This included entire paragraphs that describe the results of the strategy, the locations where it had been replicated, and its alleged success in reducing crime rates. Rufo highlighted this case in his report, stating, “Kamala Harris has become famous, in part, for her unique rhetorical style. She switches freely between various accents and peppers her speeches with catchphrases: pondering falling ‘out of a coconut tree,’ discussing ‘the significance of the passage of time,’ and moving the nation toward ‘what can be, unburdened by what has been.’”
In a section about a New York court program, Harris stole long passages directly from Wikipedia—long considered an unreliable source. She not only assumes the online encyclopedia's accuracy, but copies its language nearly verbatim, without citing the source. Here is Harris's… pic.twitter.com/qrwHE8AAgk
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2024
Perhaps the most surprising element of the allegations is the revelation that Harris relied on Wikipedia, an often unreliable source, for parts of her book. In discussing a New York court program, Harris allegedly copied entire passages from a Wikipedia entry. Not only did Harris fail to properly cite the source, but she also failed to verify the accuracy of the information she presented. Rufo wrote that Harris incorrectly cited a figure related to illegal vending in the city, drawing from an erroneous interpretation of the Wikipedia entry she copied.
This is controversial because regular people can sign up and make edits to the content featured on Wikipedia. Your chances of getting accurate information are deeply questionable at best. This shoots Harris’ credibility and demonstrates a lazy streak that exists within her. Then again, after three years of doing nothing to fix the border crisis, it all starts to make sense.
In another section of the book, Harris allegedly used language from a Bureau of Justice Assistance report, which was linked in the same Wikipedia entry. The report provided detailed descriptions of crime reduction initiatives in various cities, including West Palm Beach, Florida, which Harris apparently reproduced verbatim in her book without credit.
Finally, when attempting to write a description of a nonprofit group, Harris simply lifted promotional language from an Urban Institute report, and failed to cite her source: pic.twitter.com/WpcC0SkpT5
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2024
“In his report, Rufo lays out other instances where Harris allegedly lifted language from government documents, nonprofit reports, and media outlets without giving credit. For example, when describing a nonprofit organization, Harris allegedly copied promotional language from an Urban Institute report, once again failing to cite her source,” the report concluded.
"*" indicates required fields
