Even as violent crime soars in New York City, candidates to be the next district attorney in the Big Apple are pitching more lenient policies toward crime that are favored by the Left.
A majority of the challengers, eight in total, are campaigning on maintaining, if not building upon, the controversial restorative justice policies implemented by New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The city's primary takes place on June 22, with the winner almost guaranteed a victory in the November general election. Vance has not said whether he plans to run for another term.
One candidate, New York State Assemblyman Dan Quart, who this summer introduced a bill to decriminalize face coverings in public spaces as violent protests following the death of George Floyd swept the city, wants to end the prosecution of 18 crimes. Those include resisting arrest, burglary in the third degree, prostitution, and the "vast majority of welfare fraud and possession of stolen property."
"Too often, our culture moves faster than our legislature. District Attorneys, as elected representatives of the people, have a responsibility to respond to those changes and to set priorities based on considerations of community needs and public safety," Quart writes on his campaign website.
Eliza Orlins, a longtime public defender and former Survivor and The Amazing Race contestant, is running as an "outspoken advocate for New York City's most vulnerable" and hopes "to change our cruel and unjust system," according to her campaign website. Like Quart, she promises to decriminalize prostitution and a litany of other crimes.
"As a criminal defense attorney for The Legal Aid Society, Eliza has litigated in both New York State Supreme Court and New York State Criminal Court," she boasts on her campaign website. "She also trains new lawyers to argue for bail, win suppression hearings, cross-examine witnesses, and compose powerful closing arguments."
Orlins pledges to "decriminalize poverty" and create a Conviction Review Unit in her office. The purpose of this unit would be to monitor sentencing disparities and "partner with external activists and research organizations … not simply [to] correct past wrongs, but also … [to] steer the Manhattan DA's office toward better future outcomes."
Former American Civil Liberties Union attorney Janos Marton claims he's the "most progressive" candidate in the Manhattan district attorney race, telling the Daily News in an interview that he would cut Manhattan's pretrial prison population by 80%, outlaw the use of solitary confinement in Manhattan, and consider clemency to those serving long prison sentences to reunite families.
"The Marton for District Attorney campaign is committed to collaborating with formerly incarcerated people, survivors of crime, social workers, mental health professionals, law enforcement, criminal court attorneys, and community leaders to shape a plan that will repair our broken criminal legal system," his campaign website reads.
This year's district attorney race could prove to be some of the most consequential in decades as New York sees a wave of violent crime at levels not seen for years. In 2020, the city saw a nearly 40% increase in murders and an increase in shootings by 95%. Vance, the current district attorney of New York, has faced criticism from both the Left and Right over his office's handling of issues ranging from civil unrest this summer to sexual assault cases.
In December, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea blasted prosecutors who favor restorative justice and said police are "one part of the criminal justice system."
“Prosecutors, judges having discretion — maybe they want to give the person a second chance, maybe they’re gonna give them supervised release,” he told the New York Post. “But listen, if you’re giving them supervised release, transparency is not just good for the police department. Transparency is good for all the parts of the criminal justice system," adding that he'd like to see "some data on how many people were placed on supervised release … [and] who goes to school, who has a job."
Some candidates running for the job of Manhattan district attorney, such as Tali Weinstein, have pledged to maintain their ability to prosecute misdemeanor crimes. Weinstein, who served in the Obama administration under former Attorney General Eric Holder, has centered her campaign around "fairness" but also using the district attorney's office's "resources to pursue the cases that legitimately promote public safety."
Only Liz Crotty appears to be running with a tough-on-crime platform. A long shot, Crotty has said the city must make it so "New Yorkers … feel safe when returning to their normal lives" after COVID-19 and that safety is "the corner stone" of any functioning city.
