No Cash Bail...What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I recently had dinner in New York City with old and dear family friends. They live near Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a vibrant and safe area of the city. So when I jokingly suggested that one of them should replace his cane with a sword cane for self defense, I was surprised that they both expressed concern for their safety on the streets of perhaps the safest part of the city.

New York City has been the safest large city in America for a generation. Giuliani cracked down on rampant crime in the early 1990s with a combination of aggressive policing, zero tolerance for petty crime such as turnstile jumping and graffiti, and a contentious but successful policy of searches for weapons that earned the ire of the ACLU but the thanks of most New Yorkers.

Bloomberg continued many of Giuliani's policies, and the city remained incredibly safe. So safe that New York became complacent, assuming that low-crime neighborhoods were the default, rather than the product of many years of effort on the part of the police and the city government.

But all good things come to an end...

Fair or dangerous? Days after ending cash bail, New York has second thoughts

On Jan. 1, a landmark New York law curtailing the use of cash bail went into effect, signaling a leap in a nationwide movement to reduce the number of people held in jails.

But after less than a week under the new system, elected officials are already having second thoughts, rattled by stories of suspects' being set free and committing new crimes ─ including that of a woman accused of an anti-Semitic attack in New York City.

New Yorkers are reflexive Democrats; they are apathetic; they like spending other people's money, and now they are reaping the whirlwind of their decisions.

&topic=world_news"> posted by CBD at 02:30 PM

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