NYC Criminal Justice System "Imploding" As a Result of Bail Reform
New York City’s homicide rate has hit a five-year high as the amount of people shot has jumped 42 percent compared to last year on the heels of an “implosion” of the city’s judicial system, according to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
A perfect storm of COVID-19 shutdowns within the judicial system (which have shunted indictments against the most dangerous illegal gun criminals), a breakdown in the city’s social safety nets (which has prisoners being released from jail straight into homelessness), and bail reform laws and case deferments have all hindered the NYPD’s efforts to staunch the bleeding, Shea believes.
"We cannot keep people safe without keeping bad, dangerous, people off the streets,” Shea said. "You have a criminal justice system that's imploding. That’s the kindest way to put it.”
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Shea summed up his thoughts bluntly: “The people who are suffering are the people in New York City.”
Compared to the same week last year, NYPD crime data shows the total number of shooting victims rose 42 percent, along with 166 homicides to date compared to 134 from 2019. That represents a 24 percent increase in homicides year-over-year, marking an increase of 2.5 percent over year-to-date totals from five years ago.
Former NYPD Chief of Patrol Wilbur Chapman said that in this instance, the uptick is the rule, not the exception.
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One thing the former police chief seemed to be certain of: defunding the department is not the answer to race problems. Instead Chapman, who is Black, said there were other programs and issues that have contributed to systemic racism to a larger degree than policing.
"Undereducation, poor housing, lack of employment — these are all things that are racist. The NYPD did not create them, but they are required to police those communities where these symptoms have caused a population that is underserved in terms of positive services and overserved in terms of enforcement," Chapman said. "The reality is the other services have been underfunded and underserving communities of color. It would be much better to find funding outside of the police department to correct their deficiencies rather than blame the police department for those failures."
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