A newly sworn-in district attorney in Manhattan reportedly plans not to prosecute several crimes, including resisting arrest. At the same time, New York City’s new mayor Eric Adams has pledged to crack down on surging crime.
On Jan. 1, Alvin Bragg, 48, was sworn in as Manhattan District Attorney. Bragg told his staff that he does not intend to prosecute several crimes, including marijuana possession, turnstile jumping, trespassing, resisting arrest, interfering with an arrest, and prostitution.
In addition, the document says the district attorney’s office will “not seek prison sentences other than for homicide” or “class B violent felony involving a deadly weapon that causes serious injury, domestic violence felonies” with some exceptions in “extraordinary circumstances.”
Bragg claims that “reserving prison sentences for matters involving significant harm will make the city safer.”
Bragg also notes that his office will request at least twenty years in prison for all crimes without a life-in-prison option and will never seek life without parole in any case regardless of how heinous.
Bragg’s office will recommend pretrial detention only in “very serious cases.”
“The data show that the overwhelming majority of those released pretrial do not commit a violent crime while at liberty,” the memo says. “Two studies show that even three days in jail can lead to a loss of housing, employment and strain family connections and increase the likelihood failure to appear in court.”
Bragg’s decision on bail remains in line with progressive district attorneys across the United States, including in Austin, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, where bail and sentencing guidelines have been lowered in the name of “reform.”
Soon after Bragg’s memo was released, the New York Police Benevolent Association, in a statement on social media, expressed serious concern about the plan.
“We continue to have serious concerns about the message these types of policies send to both police officers and criminals on the street,” PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said. “Police officers don’t want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys won’t prosecute. 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 added that he looks forward to “discussing these issues” with Bragg.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters that he had not seen Bragg’s memo.
“I have not communicated with the DA,” Adams said. “I have not looked over and analyzed exactly what he’s calling for,” according to The New York Post.
Over the summer, then-candidate Adams claimed that Bragg’s position on addressing crime is “no different than mine.”
