CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris has been accused by a conservative activist of plagiarizing passages in a guide she co-authored greater than a decade in the past.
Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow on the Manhattan Institute, a conservative assume tank, on Monday cited in a web-based submit an evaluation by so-called Austrian plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber, alleging Harris lifted “verbatim language” from uncited sources in “Good on Crime,” which she co-wrote with Joan O’C. Hamilton.
The guide – printed in 2009, the yr earlier than Harris was elected California legal professional common – focuses on coverage drawing from her expertise prosecuting crimes that ranged from little one sexual assault to murder in Alameda County and San Francisco. Rufo, in his submit, refers to 6 particular paragraphs from Harris’ roughly 200-page guide.
CNN reviewed a number of of the passages highlighted by Rufo and located that Harris and O’C. Hamilton didn’t correctly attribute language to sources.
Plagiarized works embrace utilizing another person’s work with out giving them correct and acceptable credit score for his or her concepts and phrases. Even when the supply of the knowledge is cited, it’s nonetheless thought of plagiarism if the concepts aren’t paraphrased or quoted within the right place, consultants instructed CNN late final yr.
In a single occasion, Harris and O’C. Hamilton seem to have lifted some language from a John Jay Faculty of Legal Justice press launch with out correct attribution. The guide copies actual language and sections of the press launch however fails to make use of citation marks in a number of sentences, in response to an evaluation of the guide and the press launch.
The authors do, nevertheless, cite the press launch as a supply in a footnote subsequent to the textual content.
Additionally they correctly attribute different quotes from elements of the press launch.
Rufo additionally highlighted one other instance claiming Harris and O’C. Hamilton “lifted language verbatim” from an NBC Information report a couple of 2008 examine on low commencement charges in metropolis faculties. CNN confirmed that the language could be very comparable in each the guide and the NBC Information report.
Haris and O’C. Hamilton cite the examine of their guide when utilizing the examine’s statistics, however don’t cite the NBC Information article.
The Harris marketing campaign mentioned the Democratic presidential candidate “clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes all through” the guide.
“Rightwing operatives are getting determined as they see the bipartisan coalition of assist Vice President Harris is constructing to win this election, as Trump retreats to a conservative echo chamber refusing to face questions on his lies. It is a guide that’s been out for 15 years, and the Vice President clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes all through,” mentioned Harris marketing campaign spokesperson James Singer.
Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance rapidly seized on the allegations from the conservative activist, posting on X: “Lmao Kamala didn’t even write her personal guide!” The Ohio Republican mentioned in one other submit that he “wrote (his) personal guide,” in reference to his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
