Criminals in New York City are needlessly putting lives at risk by not following stay-at-home orders when going out to murder people. Murders in New York City have reportedly skyrocketed more than 55 percent over the last 28 days, compared to the same time last year. While certain categories of crimes are down in New York City, like felony assault and rape, overall crime is still up 4.6 percent year-to-date.
Breitbart reports that between April 13 and April 19, murders in the Big Apple increased 100 percent over the same time in the previous year. Grand larceny auto is also soaring in the city, up more than 62 percent overall since the year before. Burglaries are also way up, some 25 percent in the last 28 days and more than 36 percent in the last week.
A huge part of the problem is bail reform, where those suspected of burglary, certain types of homicide and various other serious crimes are immediately released. Who could have seen this coming?
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Sunday that "New Yorkers are now suffering from two viruses: One that’s taking hundreds and thousands of lives. The other that’s putting hundreds of thousands of lives in absolute fear of people breaking into their apartments."
"They have 9,000 corrections officers out there, 4,000 prisoners," Bratton said on AM 970’s "The Cats Roundtable" radio show. "And a jail that used to house 22,000. You’d think they’d be able to space them out enough that we could safely keep them out there and keep them away from the public. But instead, they’re moving forward with criminal justice reform where they are literally celebrating that they have less than 4,000 incarcerated. The coronavirus is basically creating another virus that was here before corona and will be here after corona. And that’s the criminal justice reform virus."
In addition to bail reform, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) is releasing thousands of inmates all across the state in order to promote social distancing. Once free, the people who can't follow our laws against violent crime will surely put the CDC's social distancing guidelines into practice. Maybe the criminals plan on wearing face masks and standing six-feet away from their victims.
At a time when businesses are closed down and millions of Americans are added to the unemployment rolls every week, is this really the right time to be releasing prisoners? Given the high recidivism rates in this country, is there ever a right time?
Editor's Note: Want to support Townhall so we can keep telling the truth about China and the virus they unleashed on the world? Join Townhall VIP and use the promo code WUHAN to get 25% off VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member