"New York district attorney calls for end to prosecuting serious crimes"

"All criminals are welcome appears to be the policy of the New York district attorney.

With the departure of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the election of Eric Adams, a Democrat who at least rhetorically voiced support for the police and law and order, some hoped that worrying crime trends in New York City would be reversed.

The early signs aren’t promising.

Newly-elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a 'day 1 memo' highlighting how various crimes — some quite serious — will no longer be prosecuted under his leadership.

One of the crimes his office won’t prosecute is armed robberies of businesses. Suspects in those cases who make off with less than $1,000 in stolen goods will now be charged with the lesser crime of petty larceny, a misdemeanor.

Among the other crimes his office will no longer prosecute are resisting arrest, fare beating, prostitution and trespassing. Basically, the only criminals who will now face serious jail time are murderers.

It gets worse.

'Even when Bragg does intend to seek jail sentences, the penalties will not be stiff,' wrote Seth Barron at City Journal. 'Bragg says that the maximum sentence sought for any offense will be 20 years, and that his office will never seek life without parole. If 20 years is the maximum sentence for the worst offenses, expect a severe discount on sentences for other offenses across the board.'

If these policies seem familiar, that’s because they mirror a path charted by other radical, left-wing district attorneys across the country, like Chesa Boudin in San Francisco and Larry Krasner in Philadelphia.

These district attorneys have made policing nearly impossible, as even in the cases when an already stretched thin and beleaguered police force is able to arrest criminals, they are very soon put back out on the street.

Things aren’t working out well in those cities. Violent crime is soaring, and other types of crime — like mass retail looting — are also on the upswing...

The New York Police Department’s newly appointed police commissioner Keechant Sewell said she thought they could put public safety at risk.

'I have studied these policies and I am very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims,' she wrote in an email to police officers."