Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has downgraded more than half of his felony cases to misdemeanors as crime continues to soar in the Big Apple.
Since taking office on Jan. 1, the soft-on-crime DA has reduced 52 percent of felony cases, compared to 39 percent in 2019, according to data published on the DA’s website.
However, under District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., the percentage of cases the office downgraded did not exceed 40 percent between 2013 and 2020.
Bragg, who campaigned last year on a promise of criminal justice reform, issued a controversial ‘Day One’ memo after taking office, saying he would only seek prison time in the most serious cases.
That same month, career criminal William Rollan, who faced only misdemeanor charges for threatening a store employee with a knife, was told by a judge that he should “feel lucky” because of Bragg’s new policies.
Violent crime in the Big Apple is up nearly 30 percent since last year.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has downgraded more than half of his felony cases to misdemeanors since taking office on Jan. 1 as crime continues to rise in the Big Apple
Since taking office on Jan. 1, the soft-on-crime DA has turned down 52 percent of felony cases, compared to 39 percent of all of 2019, according to new data.
In cases that have serious charges, new data showed Bragg’s office won convictions only 51 percent of the time, down from 68 percent in 2019. Then the court system was disrupted for a short time due to the epidemic.
The data also showed that Bragg declined to prosecute 35 percent more felony cases this year than he prosecuted in 2019. So far, 1,119 cases have been reported in 2022, while it was 828 in 2019.
The DA’s office has convicted only 29 percent of misdemeanors so far this year, compared to 68 percent in 2019. Bail has been requested in only 49 per cent of felony cases this year as compared to 69 per cent in 2019.
Bragg has been criticized for soft-on-crime policies, including allowing prosecutors to charge felony armed robbery charges and instead charging suspects with petit burglary and not seeking prison sentences for the offenders. Is.
Critics say these new policies are responsible for the initial increase in New York City crime in 2022.
‘Right now the people in charge want to talk about gun violence and these shootings,’ Jennifer Harrison, founder of Victims Rights NY, recently told the New York Post.
‘But I wonder how many incidents [where] Charges were downgraded or dismissed or the guns or weapons involved were dropped, and how are we going to put an end to this kind of violence when people like Alvin Bragg are in charge?’
Harrison also said that Bragg ‘really needs to stop with the public defender mentality and do his job and enforce the law and run crime the right way.’
Violent crime in the Big Apple is up nearly 30 percent since last year
Transit crime and subway incidents skyrocketed this year, despite the MTA’s focus on placing more officers at subway stations in recent months, but their presence doesn’t always help
Manhattan mother Madeline Bram, who lost her Army vet son Hassan Correa, 35, in a 2018 murder, told the Post she was “traumatized” by the outcome of the case against the four defendants.
Two received plea deals from Bragg’s office, one pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and a fourth was convicted of mass assault earlier this month.
‘We are not getting any justice or closure. The victims have just been hung out to dry. There is no thought for the victims or their families. None,’ said Brum. ‘Lower charges, there should be no argument for downgrading of charges, none of that.’
Madeline Bram, a Manhattan mother who lost her Army vet son, Hassan Correa, 35, in a 2018 murder, told the Post she was ‘pained’ by the outcome of the case against the defendants
In response to the latest figures, Bragg’s office told the Post that he is still dealing with the effects of the pandemic and under reforms the state adopted in 2019. informed of.
‘The fact is, we committed 459 more felonies this year than last year and we have three times more gun convictions so far this year than in 2019… We will continue to prosecute violence drivers and every Will give priority to safety and fairness in the case. spokesman Daniel Filson said.
Professional criminal William Rawlan, who faced only misdemeanor charges for threatening a store employee with a knife, was told by a judge that he should “feel lucky” because of Bragg’s policies.
Bragg’s policies include calling on prosecutors to eliminate felony armed robbery charges and instead charge suspects with petty theft and not seek prison sentences for the offenders.
Transit crime and subway incidents have skyrocketed this year, and despite the MTA’s focus in recent months on placing more officers at subway stations, their presence doesn’t always help.
Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that there is only a ‘perception’ that crime on the subways is out of control – even as he and New York Gov. Cathy Hochul spend millions of taxpayer dollars to better police and monitor the system. Have done
At least twelve people have been pushed in front of a subway train so far this year, at least two have died.
Even incidents that don’t end fatally often darken transit patrons’ perception of the NYC subway system.
The number of homeless men hanging out at subway stations has increased dramatically since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite Mayor Adams outlining a plan to prevent homeless people from taking shelter in the city’s subway system, the issue has apparently not subsided and commuters continue to be harassed and made uncomfortable during their daily commute. has been made.
Adams has said that he and law enforcement are fighting “real crime” and that the current average of “six crimes a day” on the subway is only “giving the impression that it is out of control,” he said.
He said there are “too many guns” on the streets of New York, but added that the NYPD has done an “amazing job” of confiscating thousands of firearms in and out of the subway.
