Alvin Bragg: Manhattan DA will not prosecute certain crimes, provides explanation - CNN
By: Sonia Moghe (CNN)
What could possibly go wrong..................
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)Just days after taking office, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg released a memo detailing new charging, bail, plea and sentencing policies that he said he believes will make the city safer and the criminal justice system more fair, yet the plan faces criticism from police union leaders.
Among the crimes Bragg said his office would not prosecute: marijuana misdemeanors, including selling more than three ounces; not paying public transportation fare; trespassing except a fourth degree stalking charge, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration in certain cases, and prostitution. Misdemeanor offenses that are legally required to be given a "desk appearance ticket" will be offered diversion or community-based programs intended to help an offender, the memo said. The office may also decline to prosecute the offense. Bragg wants to "reserve pretrial detention for very serious cases," according to the memo, and he intends to limit underage defendants in adult courts. Bragg also outlined a policy to request partially or unsecured bond in the same amount as cash bail requests. Alvin Bragg makes history as Manhattan's first ever Black district attorney Read More "Safety is paramount. New Yorkers deserve to be safe from crime and safe from the dangers posed by mass incarceration. We will be tough when we need to be, but we will not be seeking to destroy lives through unnecessary incarceration," Bragg said on Twitter. The policy reform plan has drawn ire from police union Police Benevolent Association, whose president said the organization is concerned about the messages these types of policies send to police officers and "criminals on the street." "Police officers don't want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys won't prosecute," PBA president Patrick Lynch said in a statement to CNN. "And there are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers and face zero consequences." Lynch said in the statement that the looks forward to discussing these issues with Bragg.
Focus is on reducing recidivism, Bragg says
In the memo, Bragg detailed his experiences with the criminal justice system growing up as a black man in Harlem, with guns pointed at him multiple times by both police and civilians and having posted bail for family members. He also described walking with his children through "yellow crime scene tape" from a shooting near his home just a few months ago. "These policy changes not only will, in and of themselves, make us safer; they also will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime," Bragg said in the memo, adding that his commitment to making incarceration a matter of last resort is "immutable." The new district attorney said he wants to invest more in alternatives to incarceration that he says will reduce re-offending and conserve resources. New Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg pledges to focus on Trump investigations His office will focus on accountability, he said, not sentence length. "Research is clear that, after a certain length, longer sentences do not deter crime or result in greater community safety," he said, adding that his department will expand its use of "restorative justice programming." New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who took office January 1, told "CBS This Morning" Wednesday that while he believes it's important to stop crime, he respects Bragg's experience as a prosecutor. "At the precinct level, someone comes in for a petty theft, we're at the policing level, you identify that they have a mental health issue, instead of locking them up -- let's defer prosecution, let's have a local community-based organization that deals with mental health illnesses handle it right at the precinct -- that's the coordination that we need," Adams said. "There's no reason to put someone (with) mental health illness in Rikers Island, that's a revolving door." Criminal justice reform groups have welcomed the memo. Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge for The Legal Aid Society, called it a "substantive first step to reform an office that long resorted to making excessive bail requests and overcharging our clients."
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So in other words, keep up your bad behavior. SMH
Hell, he probably secured a future with national potential for him as a Democrat.
Well, he has told them what they can get away with
I am wondering if the guy has been under a freaking rock or something?
Doesn't he see what is happening in cities with "progressive" DA's?
"In the memo, Bragg detailed his experiences with the criminal justice system growing up as a black man in Harlem"
That tells us what makes him tick. This is about settling and old score.
If NYC wants to go light duty on minor prostitution and weed that is NYC's business. If you don't like it don't come here. I expect this will increase NYC's tourism!
maybe for the prostitution. Oh, and the free transit rides now..................
Gots to do something to make up for all the closures on Broadway!
Don't forget about NYC residents' and business exodus under Comrade DeBlasio. Adams and Bragg are continuing and expanding on his policies and the hell with people's safety and prosperity.
Fair enough. I probably wouldn't have announced it, but as you say, it's NYC's business, and the rest of us have no reason to care.
It very well may. Loose enforcement certainly doesn't hurt New Orleans or Las Vegas any.
I bet lots of folks from Jersey will come for the hookers.
Prostitution is all on the internet since... 1995!
I bet screwing the internet must feel differently than doing it to a human.
What say you?
Dinkins was known for allowing a lot of hookers on the NYC sides of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels and on 42nd Street in his day. DeBlasio wasn't as good, but he tried. Maybe the Adams/Bragg team are trying to bring back the good old days?
LMAO!
Bratton then cited the $1 million donation that Hungarian-born philanthropist Soros gave to the Color of Change political action committee, which supported Bragg.
“If you look at every city in America that has violent crime increases and disorder increases…what is the one common denominator?” Bratton said. “District attorneys, almost all of whom are funded phenomenally by George Soros.”
https://nypost.com/2022/01/09/bill-bratton-slams-da-alvin-bragg-blames-soros-for-election/#:~:text=George%20Soros%20made%20a%20%241%20million%20donation%20to,%E2%80%9Ceffectively%20destroyed%20the%20criminal%20justice%20system%20in%20America.%E2%80%9D
Much the way shoplifters drive up a store's foot traffic.
....resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration in certain cases
I'm sure the NY criminals are thanking him immensely for the invite to beat up the cops and disrupt the government...
They have had these policies for almost a year in Seattle, why do you think they are down to less than half the recommended staffing levels...
More power to them... But I suspect they will see a similar rise in crime like Seattle's with a decrease in police staffing levels......
Cops do not like enforcing laws that do not get prosecuted.. (especially resisting arrest)
That's for sure!
It doesn't sound like Bragg and his family have much respect for the rule of law.
Three ounces is a misdemeanor ? Check out this article from 2014 that shows 2 ounces:
It's defacto legalization....
Yes it is. It seems that that there's already a recall petition started to remove Bragg.
"Reggie" regular Mexican weed is only $35 - $100 an ounce depending on whether you are hooked up or some schmuck. The price of really good strains runs from $200 - $500 per ounce. A big part of the weed culture is sharing. It is usually a social thing where friends get stoned together. You would not understand this butt it is not unusual at all for some to have ounces of several different strains.
Most of us understand perfectly. We also understand the "sharing" is actually a second hand drug dealer that buys the weed and then adds something else to increase the quantity. Sure they cut the price for their "friends"; but the weed sucks and you have to smoke more of it.
Went to more than enough Frat parties in college to know how it works. Part time second hand drug dealers made a killing while going to college ripping off their own Frat brothers and guests. They were great "friends".
Or maybe you are just lucky enough to know a rich asshole that can't make any friends unless they get them stoned. Knew two of them as well. Being stoned didn't make them any less of assholes.
Your point?
Considering you know nothing about my professional and volunteer work experience, I find this comment highly amusing.
“New Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg pledges to focus on Trump investigations”
That’s truly the donkey on the couch. What does that have to do with any street-level, NYC social experiment?
It tells you that Bragg needed Soros and progressives to get him through. That (D) after his name did the rest.
Insanity. Lot's of unnecessary death and poverty will result.
With this he pretty much told everybody what laws he is going to ignore. So much for the safety of the community. No wonder there are reports of so many people fleeing that shithole city.
Bragg is one sicko dude living in a leftist liberal fantasy world!
That is so true and beyond all doubt. He’d be happy if he were here in this liberal fantasy world though.