With New York City’s murder rate up for the first two months of the year, we expect the NYPD to react accordingly to bring it back down. Is it really too much to ask lawmakers to adjust as well?
The murder rate is the hardest standard for measuring crime: The rise in reports of rapes or hate crimes that the city’s seeing is at least partly the result of more people coming forward, rather than an actual increase in offenses; every murder comes with a body.
So there’s every reason to worry that murders are up nearly a third over the first two months of 2019, with February even worse than January. But there’s every reason to trust the NYPD to adjust as it has in the face of every other murder spike for the past quarter-century.
On top of redeploying cops to the hot spots, that will now mean working with DAs to boost gun prosecutions as well as targeting known gang members and intervening with higher-risk individuals getting out of prison.
Yet the law-enforcement community shouldn’t be the only one adjusting. A spike in murders also ought to give state lawmakers pause in their rush to eliminate cash bail. We agree with Mayor de Blasio: Wait until you know more, folks.
It’s also worth looking at the impact of recent reforms like the Raise the Age law, which softened treatment for all under-18 criminals and accused.
Arraigned Friday night in a Bronx shooting, 16-year-old Edgar Garcia was already out on bail Saturday night.
The judge set bail at just a quarter of what prosecutors requested — but then the proceedings (thanks to Raise the Age) were in the Youth Part of adult Criminal Court, and the DA will have to get judicial approval to stop the case from moving to Family Court. And if he’s found guilty, the judge must consider his age in determining his punishment.
Hmm: Video clearly shows the perp opening fire during a gang battle, and nearly hitting a little girl. Authorities allege that Garcia belongs to the Mexican gang Los Vagos and was targeting five members of a rival gang, Los Cholos.
Gang higherups may have chosen Garcia to be the triggerman because they knew Raise the Age would protect him. The reform could lead to a whole new wave of underage hitmen — a perverse result we’re sure lawmakers didn’t intend.
Surely that’s more reason to take more care with bail reform.