Headline-chasing Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s vanity project of a trial against former president Donald Trump comes at a high cost for New Yorkers.
The time and expense Bragg has devoted to the flimsy-as-a-cobweb Trump charges are indefensible given how many dangerous crimes go unprosecuted.
Criminals roam the streets with little fear of facing jail time.
Manhattan’s crime clearance rate is an abysmal 29.8%.
In 2023, NYC’s 109,303 prosecuted arrests resulted in an imprisonment rate of less than 7%.
While Trump is going to trial and faces six to eight weeks of “embarrassing evidence,” most New York criminal cases summarily plea bargained.
Out of 18,478 cases, 15,053 were plea bargained.
In 2023 in NYC, 12,151 criminal filings (10,924 indictments and 1,227 SCIs) resulted in 10,722 guilty pleas, a guilty plea rate of 88%.
Such unbridled plea bargaining “severely weakens the integrity of the justice system,” says a new report from the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
On the rare occasions that they are convicted, New York’s dangerous criminals are set free time and again.
Two-thirds of persons released without bail with a recent prior arrest were subsequently rearrested within two years.
Between January and May in 2023, a mere 250 people accounted for 2,500 arrests; 70% of the arrestees were repeat offenders.
As my colleague Hannah E. Myers recently reported, recidivism is at its highest rate since 2017.
Recent news stories highlight this uptick in career criminals on the streets. Dantay Moore, who fatally stabbed a 63-year-old grandmother, had 15 prior convictions, yet was let out on the streets to kill.
This April, Alvin Doris tried to steal money and a cellphone from two kids at the Broadway/Lafayette train station.
He punched the 11-year-old and broke his nose.
Doris has nine prior arrests, including four previous assault charges, but he was free to wander the streets.
On a Monday this past January, Rakeem Washington stole a subway passenger’s cellphone, was arrested, and was released without bail.
On Friday of that same week, he attempted to rob another passenger by threatening him with a boxcutter.
Washington’s criminal history is extensive, with prior arrests for assault robbery, attempted robbery, and aggravated harassment.
Nicole Gelinas reports that this past February, New York City subways saw “76 serious violent crimes: two murders, one rape, 38 robberies and 35 assaults.”
Over the past 14 months, the city has also seen a 72% rise in stabbings of police officers.
The things that make New York special, its parks, subway performers, and world-renowned police and landmarks are under constant attack.
But Bragg is more interested in being a liberal media darling than in doing his job.
Bragg’s waste of resources in pursuit of Trump undermines the rule of law, erodes confidence in the justice system, and delays justice for real victims.
Throughout the state of New York, courts are notoriously backlogged, with more than 453,000 pending cases.
In NYC, as of February 2024, 50,180 people were awaiting disposition of their cases. Some attribute this glut to a shortage of judges and prosecutors.
But what about a six- to eight-week political show trial?
Victims are tired of waiting for justice.
In 2019, 70,000 violent crimes were reported in New York state, yet only 6,140 victims were awarded compensation.
A medic was involved in a road-rage incident when the driver in front of her left his car, approached her, and smashed her in the face with a carjack, breaking most of the molars on the left side of her face.
Her claims for compensation were denied when the Office of Victim Services said that it couldn’t verify that her assailant had caused her dental injuries.
These are just some of the citizens denied justice, even as a politically motivated and costly trial proceeds.
Bragg is so desperate to “get Trump” that he has abandoned the New Yorkers he was elected to serve.
Tim Rosenberger is a legal fellow at the Manhattan Institute. From City Journal.