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New York City One Step Closer To ‘The Purge’: Why They Just Legalized Petty Crimes

By Dustin Kemp

From the archive: published May 27, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.

On Wednesday, New York City courts upheld the decision to lift eight citywide laws that prohibit public disturbances such as public urination, littering, loitering after dark, disturbing the peace, and even carrying alcohol around in public, in a piece of legislation entitled “The Criminal Reform Act.” Needless to say, writes The New York Post, the city is about to become considerably more disgusting.

“For too long, New York’s criminal justice system has been broken — it’s time we fix it,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, a New York City council speaker.

“The Criminal Justice Reform Act is going to continue to keep New Yorkers safe while also creating a more fair and just system that will ensure the penalties fit the crime.”

Small-time offenses, which have been outlawed in the past because officials feared they would lead to more serious crime, have been redesignated from criminal offenses, which can often result in jail time, to civil offenses, which only incur a small fine.

The New York city council’s logic says that it is unfair to keep branding city residents with records that will follow them around for the rest of their lives.

Being forever labeled as a criminal by the courts can lead to tremendously adverse side effects for the offender, explains Councilman Ritchie Torres. Young people, who make up the majority of the perpetrators when it comes to these petty crimes, risk losing “access to financial aid and higher education” in the long term, which can really restrict development.

“These essential elements of a decent life… can be easily blighted by the lingering stigma of a criminal record,” Torres continues.

Councilman Rory Lancman added that the punishments New York City police have been meting out sometimes do not fit the crime.

“We’re running people through the criminal-justice system for committing low-level, nonviolent quality-of-life offenses that can be better handled through the civil system with a fine.”

He added that the NYPD needs to be able to “focus on real crime.”

It sounds reasonable when you put it like that, but a huge percentage of New Yorkers and the general population have been rising up in arms by arguing that the Act will only make New York City a less attractive place and that the city is only decriminalizing these disgusting acts as a cost-saving measure.

Even some New York politicians disagree vehemently with the act. For example, Staten Island Councilman Steve Matteo says that the downgrading of smaller crimes will send the wrong message to potential lawbreakers, and criminals need consequences.

“We don’t want people to think it’s okay to urinate in public…We want there to be real consequences, because there’s a big difference between a criminal fine and a civil fine.”

The claim that New York City passed the Criminal Justice Reform Act in order to save money very well may have some validity, as radio station New Jersey 101.5 points out that the plan will prevent more than 100,000 cases from going to court each year and over 50,000 warrants from being issued. That’s a lot of hours of city law enforcement work that won’t be needed anymore.

But at the same time, notes the New York Post story, New York’s city council managed to hire an additional 1,200 police during the last budget process.

New York City has, especially under the leadership of former “tough on crime” mayor Rudy Giuliani, been notoriously strict when it comes to criminal offenses over the past few decades. Well, that’s about to change.

Are you in support of the Criminal Justice Reform Act? Make yourself heard in the comments section.

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