NEW YORK (NewsNation) — A group of 10 career criminals have been allowed to wreak havoc across New York City and account for nearly 500 arrests in the city since 2020, and most of them are still out on the streets. Now, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is sounding the alarm for reform to protect New Yorkers.
Adams says New York Police Department officers are doing their job — getting guns and violent offenders off the streets — but the state’s controversial bail reform law is to blame for creating a revolving door for criminals with no consequences for repeat offenders.
He says so far this year NYPD officers have surpassed a 30-year high in gun-related arrests, but many of the violent offenders arrested are back on the streets within hours.
“Our criminal justice system is insane. It is dangerous and it’s harmful and it’s destroying the fabric of our city,” Adams said during a news conference Wednesday.
Statistics compiled by the NYPD show the city’s alleged “worst of worst” repeat offenders have been arrested a total of 485 times since the bail reform went into effect in 2020, the New York Post reported.
Data released by Adams and Swewll Wednesday showed one of the “worst-of-the-worst recidivists” has more than 100 lifetime arrests — 88 of them occurring since 2020. Another person arrested 23 times for burglary in the last two years is out on parole, and one man arrested 25 times since 2020, including 9 arrests for burglary, is free to walk city streets.
Adams is now sending an SOS to state legislators to toughen the state’s bail laws and give judges more power to keep repeat offenders or recidivists in jail longer. He added repeat offenders are a clear and present threat to the safety of the city.
“This is about a small number of people taking advantage of the existing laws to endanger our city,” he said.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell stands with Adams, also calling the system broken.
“The NYPD arrests them, but the criminal justice system fails to hold them,” Sewell said.
The problem, as they see it, is the state’s bail reform law which has been called soft on crime. Also, under the law, judges cannot set bail for crimes like robbery, burglary and assault. People charged with those crimes are released until they’re called for trial.
“New York remains the only state that prevents judges from considering the threat to public safety when making custody determinations,” Sewell said.
Shootings and homicides are down compared to this same time last year, but crimes like robbery, burglary, and larceny are going up and many of the people accused of and arrested in connection with those crimes are repeat offenders.
