New York City Mayor Eric Adams is going to have a hard time establishing his law & order bona fides. This isn’t because he does not want to crack down on crime; it was one of his main promises on the campaign trail. But others in the city’s government would rather make it as difficult as possible to protect law-abiding residents from violent criminal elements.
If the city’s crime rate does not fall, it will have little to do with Adams’ competence. The main contributor to the problem is district attorney Alvin Bragg and others like him in the Big Apple’s government. Residents are already beginning to see that a “tough on crime” approach means little, if your prosecutors are more intent on ensuring violent criminals remain free to victimize the public than actually protecting civilians.
Recently, Madeline Brame, mother of murder victim Hason Correa, spoke with Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday to discuss how Bragg’s bail reform policies brought about the release of one of the suspects accused of murdering her son.
“Correa, a 35-year-old Army veteran, was stabbed to death in Harlem in 2018. His accused killers are two brothers, their sister and a fourth man,” Fox News reported. The men remain in jail, but the woman, Mary Saunders, had her bail dropped from an original $750,000 down to $12,000.”
Saunders is now free on bail.
Brame, who serves as the chair of the Victims Rights Reform Council, explained that she reached out to the district attorney multiple times. She has not received a response.
During her appearance on Fox, she characterized the dire situation in New York City. “Victims on top of victims. Bodies on top of bodies,” she said. “The mothers, the families of these victims care nothing about social justice theories. We care about restoring law and order to our city.”
Saunders allegedly held Correa down as the two men stabbed him repeatedly. Her bail was decreased partly because she has a child and it was her first offense.
Brame stated that Democrats in the city “accomplished a war” on residents by decreasing prison time and releasing criminals without investing in resources to provide housing and to address substance abuse and mental health issues for those previously imprisoned. She argued that all criminal acts like assaults and larceny can traumatize their victims. “Bragg is saying that he’s not going to prosecute or charge [these crimes] as felonies. Those are not victimless crimes,” she said.
Brame is one of several family members of victims of violent crimes who have spoken out against Bragg’s lax prosecutorial policies. With the crime rates still at disturbingly high levels, this is the absolute worst time for prosecutors to infuse their offices with wokeism.
Nevertheless, Bragg persists in prioritizing criminals over residents.
In a January guest editorial for RedState, Bob Hoge described Bragg’s approach to crime. He wrote:
Manhattan’s new District Attorney Alvin Bragg just announced a slew of crimes he won’t bother to prosecute, and is making calls for armed robberies to be prosecuted as misdemeanors – so long as the perp didn’t “create a genuine risk of physical harm.” (Tell that to the victim who just had a gun pointed at their head.)
To put it simply, it makes more sense to Bragg and his ilk to reduce the number of crimes prosecuted instead of reducing the number of violent criminals on the streets.
RedState’s Streiff also chimed in on the problem, describing how Judge Denis Boyle’s lenient approach towards violent crime may have resulted in the deaths of more New Yorkers. He accurately diagnosed the problem: Progressive judges who are more concerned with appearing virtuous than actually doing their jobs. He wrote:
I’m sure Boyle is a nice guy who loves him some puppies and children…though not in a Lincoln Project kind of way. But to look at what he’s doing with violent felons as anything but being an accomplice in their crimes is just wrong.
I’m sure Boyle is not alone. I would bet good money that if one went looking, one would find dozens, at least, of judges who are much more interested in playing “white savior” to the underclasses than they are in protecting law-abiding New Yorkers from armed sociopaths who have developed a taste for blood.
Officials like Boyle and Bragg are already making it harder for Mayor Adams to crack down on violent crime in New York City, and since he does not have the authority to remove them, they will be a constant thorn in his side. There is no point in arresting criminals, if your DA is just going to hand out “Get Out Of Jail” cards like it’s going out of style.
If Adams is going to deal with the issue, his best bet would be to use a bit of political savvy. When people complain about crime rates, he should emphasize how Bragg is hampering his efforts to keep criminals locked up. If the city’s police force is doing its job and arresting, and locking up these individuals, then law enforcement is not the problem. It would be wise to continue hammering the point home that the DA is solely responsible for future murders carried out by those Bragg saw fit to release from prison.
While Adams cannot force Bragg to start using some common sense, it could place Bragg in a precarious position politically and might be the best bet to pressure him to actually do the job for which he was elected. Either way, we will see how this situation will play out soon.
