AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Abbott
After years of backing “soft-on-justice” reforms and reformers, Democrats might finally be catching on to the damage they’ve done. On Friday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul revealed that she was meeting with Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg to “lay down the law” with the borough’s top prosecutor. The meeting was announced hours after the widow of slain New York Detective Jason Rivera blasted the DA in a powerful eulogy to her husband. With crime spiking, unrest rising, and the Democratic Party facing a brutal midterm election season, this latest rebuke might be the first sign that Democrats are distancing themselves from their radical “reimagining” of criminal justice.
From his first day in office, DA Bragg made his vision for justice in New York clear by releasing a memo that expressly stated that his office would “drop some misdemeanor cases, not seek bail or prison time for most defendants, and downgrade certain felonies to misdemeanors.” The most controversial of these reforms is his decision to downgrade armed robbery with a deadly weapon to a misdemeanor charge in most cases. After the memo received intense public backlash, Brag insisted that people simply “misread” his memo, but made it clear that he had no intention of revising his policies.
During his campaign and after taking office, Bragg also asserted that charges like gun possession should be handled with greater leniency – even as he and like-minded progressives continue to blame guns for the rise in violent crime. Although New York City has strict laws that limit gun ownership and make possession of a firearm a felony offense, Bragg made it clear that prosecutors should only seek jail time for gun possession for “extraordinary circumstances.” What exactly those extraordinary circumstances were, Bragg failed to specify.
This move was a shock to many New Yorkers. In 2020, the city endured 1,531 shootings, and over 100% increase from 2019. In 2021 that rate climbed to 1,877, the highest in years. Despite this, many progressive New Yorkers, whose wealth and distance from the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods sheltered them from this violence, celebrated Bragg for embracing the principles of “restorative justice” championed by the “Defund the Police” movement.
The disastrous results of Bragg’s policies have been clear and tragic. On January 14th, 19-year-old Kristal Bayton-Nieves, a Burger King employee, was shot during an armed robbery despite complying with the demands of the robbers. Only a week later, an 11-month-old baby was shot in the face by a stray bullet after a man fired multiple shots down a public street while chasing another man. Most shockingly, five New York City Police Officers have already been killed in the line of duty this year. The most recent was Officer Wilbert Mora and Detective Jason Rivera. Rivera was 22, one of the youngest New York Police Officers ever killed in the line of duty. The assailant, Lashawn J. McNeil, was a repeat offender who had several arrests in his past.
During the funeral of Officer Rivera, Dominique Luzuriaga, Rivera’s widow, explicitly blasted the DA during her eulogy, saying that “We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service. “I know you were tired of these laws, especially those from the new DA,” Luzuriaga said. “I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now.” Luzuriaga’s comments received a standing ovation. She joins a chorus of business leaders who have also blasted Bragg for his policies and have even hinted at a potential recall effort.
The meeting between Governor Hochul and Bragg also served as another public rebuke of the DA and, potentially, an attempt by Democrats to harden their stance on crime ahead of the looming midterm elections. Bragg isn’t alone in receiving backlash. Across the country, progressive DA’s – many of whom were handpicked and financially backed by liberal megadonor billionaire George Soros – are facing severe scrutiny. In San Francisco, DA Chesa Boudin’s office has been accused of withholding evidence “in the hopes of convicting a police officer of excessive force.” In Los Angles, DA George Gascon is facing a recall effort due to his refusal to prosecute or incriminate most accused criminals. In the most recent and alarming case in which Gascon asked for reduced jail time, a 26-year-old transgender woman, who is still biologically male, was sentenced to serve only two years in a female juvenile detention center for the crime of molesting a 10-year-old girl in a public women’s bathroom.
While Bragg has made public comments suggesting he will shift his policies, specifically in cases involving deadly weapons, his office has yet to live up to this assurance. Last week, a 16-year-old rapper who shot a police officer with an illegal firearm and was arraigned on “charges of felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon” has been released on bond. This is his second charge for possessing an illegal weapon. He secured the funds as part of his record contract advance. The NYPD Police Benevolent Association has blasted the move, stating: “If anybody wants to know why we have a crisis of violence in this city, or why we’re about to bury two hero police officers, look no further than this disgraceful bail release.”
New Yorkers of all political persuasions have made clear that, when it comes to DA Bragg’s policies, words alone won’t suffice. And if Bragg and like-minded progressive prosecutors don’t follow through on their words with actions soon, Democrats up and down the ballot will surely feel the frustration of the voters this fall.
Andrew Abbott is the pen name of a writer and public affairs consultant with over a decade of experience in DC at the intersection of politics and culture.