Kamala Harris accused of plagiarism in her first book, 'Almost word for word'

Kamala Harris is going through a tough few weeks of campaigning ahead of the presidential election. With worsening poll numbers and mounting public pressure to lay out her plans for governing, the Democratic candidate is now being dogged by the first book she wrote: "Intelligence Against Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer," as she is accused of plagiarism.

Harris wrote three books during her political career, including one intended for a children's audience, but the one targeted in this case is the first, which she published while still a San Francisco District Attorney.

According to research conducted by Dr. Stefan Weber, dubbed the "Plagiarism Hunter," the book contains "multiple infractions, comparable in severity to plagiarism, including entire passages and without proper citation of The Associated Press, Wikipedia and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice," among other sources.

Kamala Harris' list of plagiarism in her first book.

The research was showcased in an article by journalist Christopher Rufo, who echoed Weber's findings and highlights that Harris did not cite any of the authors she copied in her book.

One of the most striking passages relates to a press release from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which, with the exception of one connector, is copied word for word.

"High Point had its first face-to-face meeting with drug dealers, from the city’s West End neighborhood, on May 18, 2004. The drug market shut down immediately and permanently, with a sustained 35 percent reduction in violent crime. High Point repeated the strategy in three additional markets over the next three years. There is virtually no remaining public drug dealing in the city, and serious crime has fallen 20 percent citywide," reads Harris' book, a paragraph that is lifted from Gay's writing, who was not quoted in the book.

In turn, in a section of the book that referred to New York's judicial program, Harris took a paragraph from Wikipedia, which she barely edited to place it in this chapter.

"The Mid-town [sic] Community Court was established as a collaboration between the New York State Unified Court System and the Center for Court Innovation. The court works in partnership with local residents, businesses, and social service agencies to organize community service projects and provide on-site social services, including drug treatment, mental health counseling, and job training. What was innovative about Midtown Court was that it required low-level offenders to pay back the neighborhood through community service, while at the same time it offered them help with problems that often underlie criminal behavior," Harris writes in her book. It turns out that the paragraph is identical to the one in Wikipedia and the only difference is the change of some of the verbs.

Another passage has to do with an unquoted report from NBC News and The Associated Press, which is very similarly captured in Harris' book: "In Detroit’s public schools, only 25 percent of the students who enrolled in grade nine graduated from high school, while 30.5 percent graduated in Indianapolis public schools and 34 percent received diplomas in the Cleveland Municipal City School District. Overall, about 70 percent of the U.S. students graduate from public and private schools on time with a regular diploma, and about 1.2 million students drop out annually. Only about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation’s largest cities receive diplomas."

Having gone through all of Norwegian Weber's accusations, the journalist attacked Harris and demanded a public apology.

"At this point, one may be reminded of the title of her book: "Smart on Crime." There is nothing smart about plagiarism, which is the equivalent of an academic crime. The editor, as well as the acting vice president, should retract the plagiarized passages and issue a correction. There should be a single standard, and Kamala Harris is not getting it," Rufo denounced in his article.

"Hi, I'm JD Vance, I wrote my own book"

JD Vance, Republican candidate for president, was quick to react to the Harris plagiarism story. The Republican did so via his X account, where he recalled the success of his book, "Hillbilly Elegy."

"Hi, I'm JD Vance. I wrote my own book, unlike Kamala Harris, who copied hers from Wikipedia," posted the Ohio senator.