Crime is Soaring in New York City Thanks to “Criminal Justice Reform” Aka Get Out of Jail Free Cards
Jose Nino
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Since 2019, New York City has experienced a considerable growth in crime.
The Daily Mail reported that major crimes rose by 22.5 percent in February according to NYPD data. This was accompanied by a 7.1 percent increase in shootings, robbery, assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto crimes.
According to Fox5, police are blaming criminal justice reforms for this uptick in crime.
Reports indicate that there were 16,343 major crimes reported in the first two months of 2020 compared to 13,648 during the same period in 2019. This marks an increase of 2,695.
During the first 58 days of 2020, 482 people who were previously arrested for committing felonies such as robbery or burglary were arrested again for committing an additional 846 crimes.
35 percent, or 299, of those were arrested for committing the following major crimes: Murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto.
Law enforcement officials claim that all of the suspects who had been arrested would have usually been incarcerated prior to the passage of new bail reform laws.
On January 1, 2020, New York State introduced comprehensive criminal justice legislation, which included the abolition of cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, such as robbery.
As of now, judges are required to let individuals charged with such crimes go free without cash bail.
New York’s controversial “no-bail law” is expected to hinder the use of cash bail and pretrial detention in approximately 90 per cent of arrests. It also bolsters measures designed to ensure a defendant’s right to a speedy trial.
New York’s is following in the footsteps of California and New Jersey, which already ban cash bails for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
The “no-bail” law has already generated controversy since it went into effect.
The city witnessed a 7.1 percent increase in shooting cases, from 42 last year to 45 in 2019. Robberies rose by 32.7 percent from 891 last year to 1,182 in 2020. Assaults increased by 9.2 percent, while burglaries rose by 19.1 percent. Grand larceny went up by 23.9 percent and grand theft auto swelled by 61.6 percent.
In sum, there were a total of 7,632 major crimes for February 2020 as opposed to the 6,228 major crimes for the same period last year.
“Criminal justice reforms serve as a significant reason New York City has seen this uptick in crime,” the NYPD declared in a press release.
“All of people were arrested for offenses that prior to Jan 1 and bail reform, could have landed them in jail,” the NYPD said.
“Each number represents a victim,” remarked NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. “We will continue to work hand-in-hand with New Yorkers and our law enforcement partners to zero in on the drivers of crime and deliver justice for the victims.”
The NYPD announced that it is now reassigning resources and increasing the number of car and foot patrols in areas experiencing more criminal activities.
Several police officers are receiving new assignments, going from administrative roles to normal street duty.
“New York is now the only state in the nation that requires judges to entirely disregard the threat to public safety posed by accused persons in determining whether to hold them pending trial or to impose conditions for their release,” Shea said in an editorial he penned for the New York Times in January. “It eliminates cash bail and the possibility of detention for a wide array of offenses, including weapons possession, trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs, many hate-crime assaults, the promotion of child prostitution, serial arson, and certain burglaries and robberies.”
Criminal justice reform is one of the many tools the Left is using to destroy America’s social fabric.
The Left has co-opted valid concerns about people getting incarcerated for administrative offenses and have now morphed such concerns into a political movement that lets violent criminals roam free.
This creates an environment of anarcho-tyranny, where the criminals go unpunished and otherwise law-abiding individuals receive punishment.
Compound that with the fact that New York is one of the most anti-gun states in the country, and you have a recipe for total social chaos now that the government can barely carry out its most basic duty of trying to keep people safe and people don’t have any recourse in defending themselves.
Policymakers should think twice before jumping on the criminal justice reform bandwagon.
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