The Worst NYC Crimes Committed in 2021 Are Thanks to Bad Bail Reform Law

The year 2021 brought a hefty serving of junk justice to the Big Apple.

Between lenient judges and liberal state bail reform laws, a slew of violent criminals landed back on the streets — only to reoffend.

The soft-on-crime statute, passed by state lawmakers in 2019 and tweaked in 2020, stripped judges of discretion by barring them from setting bail on nearly all misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.

Other jurists simply went rogue by springing defendants in serious cases.

Here’s a look back at some of the most stunning cases:

Free to ‘kill’

Steven Mendez, 18, already had at least three busts on his record and was out on probation when he allegedly gunned down 21-year-old college student Saiko Koma in October.

Bronx Judge Denis Boyle freed Mendez on five years’ probation in May after he pleaded guilty to a violent armed robbery in 2020, The Post previously reported. The troubled teen, whose rap sheet includes a bust for allegedly pulling a gun on his own mother, could’ve been kept behind bars for up to four years in the robbery case.

Instead, the reputed gang member, then 17, was free to allegedly fatally shoot Koma in Fordham Heights — after police said he mistook the victim for a rival gang member.

Mendez was arraigned on murder charges in the case last week and ordered held without bail, court records show.

“What is wrong with this judge?” Koma’s father railed to The Post last month.

Sir Isaac Lootin’

Serial shoplifter Isaac Rodriguez was nabbed nearly 50 times this year alone — yet kept getting dumped back on the streets.

Rodriguez, 22, currently has 23 open cases in Queens, part of a mind-boggling rap sheet that lists 74 arrests dating to 2015, records show.

He allegedly hit one Walgreens in Jackson Heights 37 times during the year but has also targeted a slew of other retailers, stealing everything from baby formula to Victoria’s Secret merchandise.

Thanks to the state’s revolving-door criminal justice system, the petit larceny and stolen property charges don’t qualify for bail.

“I don’t know how these [cases] have been handled, but clearly there has been no consequence,” one police source told The Post at the time.

It wasn’t until Rodrigez was nabbed for assault in a June 7 gang attack of a 39-year-old Jackson Heights man that he was finally locked up.

Records show he’s now being held at Rikers Island on $10,000 bail.

To see more examples CLICK HERE.