NEW YORK (NewsNation Now) — In New York, Manhattan’s new district attorney is making changes as to what crimes will be prosecuted. The District Attorney’s Office wants to avoid prison sentences and emphasize rehabilitation, rather than punishment.

Nationwide, there are over 7,000 prisons, jails, and detention centers that make up the U.S. justice system, with millions incarcerated within it.

As of 2020, almost 2.3 million people were incarcerated in the American criminal justice system, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. That’s more than the populations of Wyoming, Vermont and Alaska combined.

At least 1,291,000 people are incarcerated in state prisons, 631,000 in local jails, 226,000 in federal prisons and jails and 122,800 are incarcerated in other detention facilities.

For context on how much that is, for every 100,000 residents, there are 698 in prison. It’s something that impacts people across the nation — about 1 out of every 3 Americans has an immediate family member who has been to prison or jail.

Alvin Bragg is the first Black district attorney in Manhattan history. He graduated from Harvard Law School and worked for the New York attorney general, but he also grew up on the streets of Harlem. He says he knows first-hand the legal system can be unfair to people of color, and now that he has a chance to make a change, he is.

Bragg made sweeping changes to his department Monday, announcing new policies and principles in a “Day One” memo.

One policy outlined crimes that the DA’s office would “not seek a carceral sentence” for cases other than homicides and other serious felonies including domestic violence, some sex crimes, public corruption and major economic crimes.

According to the memo, exceptions could be made “only in extraordinary circumstances based on a holistic analysis of the facts.”

“ADAs shall also consider the impacts of incarceration on public safety, the impacts of incarceration on
communities, the financial cost of incarceration, the racially disparate use of incarceration, and the barriers to housing, employment and education created as a consequence on a period of incarceration,” the memo read.

Bragg also announced his decision not to prosecute certain crimes — including marijuana misdemeanors, fare evasion, resisting arrest and prostitution — unless they are a part of a larger complaint including at least one felony count.

Not everyone is on board with this story of reform, critics doubt the success of similar policies in other major cities and believe they’ll lead to more violence.

Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo called the plan “pro-crime.”

The union leader said the policies called for by Bragg make it “impossible to prosecute crimes” in the city.

“[The plan] will result in … more crime and increased shootings,” he said in a statement.

“In Bragg’s Manhattan, you can resist arrest, deal drugs, obstruct arrests and even carry a gun and get away with it,” DiGiacomo said.

NewsNation affiliate WPIX contributed to this report.