DCPI indicates recidivism is increasing

Career and violent criminals 'exploiting criminal justice system’

August 3, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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Criminal recidivism, or the tendency for criminals to re-offend after initial sentencing, is on the rise in New York. A NYPD DCPI report released on Wednesday indicated that arrests for individuals who have committed crimes like grand larceny, robbery and burglary three or more times a year have increased in the first six months of 2022.

The report documented some two-hundred eleven individuals who logged at least three arrests for burglary through June 2022, a 142.5 percent increase compared with the 87 individuals arrested at least three times for burglary in the first six months of 2017. Additionally, 899 people have been arrested three times for shoplifting through June 2022, an 88.9 percent increase over the 476 individuals arrested three times for shoplifting through June of 2017.  

In 2022, overall arrests by police officers have increased by 24 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Specifically, arrests for the seven major felony crimes are up by approximately 29 percent compared with the same period in 2021. Firearms arrests are at a 27-year high. The DCPI reported that more than 4,300 guns came off the streets via NYPD through the end of July. 

Additionally, criminal court summonses are up 10 percent, while parking summonses are up by 23 percent and moving summonses are up by 15 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

The report also says that officer productivity is on the rise despite shortages caused by an exodus of officers which many claim to be alarming. 

Among the worst recidivist offenders highlighted by the DCPI included individuals with dozens of arrests for larceny and burglary: 

  • A high-volume offender with 101 career arrests – 88 of which have occurred since 2020.   
  • A repeat offender arrested 57 times since 2020 – with 23 of those arrests for burglary. The individual is currently free on parole.  
  • A recidivist with 87 arrests, 25 of them since 2020, and 9 of those involving a robbery charge. This individual is also free on the city’s streets currently.  
  • An individual with 48 career arrests, including 39 since 2020. This individual has logged 17 grand larceny arrests and has 10 open warrants.  
  • A recidivist currently free despite a record of 63 total arrests, including 39 since 2020. This individual has 13 arrests for grand larceny auto.  

Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell called for reforms allowing judges to hold re-offenders prior to their arraignment when they are deemed a risk to public safety based on the severity of the alleged crimes. Judges in New York State decide whether to remand – or, to hold defendants in jail – after the plea submission. 

“The hardworking women and men of the NYPD are doing the work, but the overall system is failing New Yorkers by allowing repeat offenders back out on the streets over and over again,” said Mayor Adams. 

“Time and time again, our police officers arrest someone who has multiple charges, but no matter how many times this person may have been arrested before, they are often walking free hours later. There is almost no accountability, and that makes us all less safe. I fought against abuses in the criminal justice system as an officer and as founder of 100 Black Men in Law Enforcement, and I know it is possible to keep New Yorkers safe, while serving justice at the same time. We need targeted, strategic, smart fixes to our laws that focus on the small number of people who are driving crime — the few hundred serial offenders in custody who are taking advantage of the system and exploiting reforms every day. We must stop this revolving door of injustice.” 

“Let’s be clear: Nonviolent, first-time offenders deserve a second chance, as the spirit of the state’s 2020 criminal justice reforms envisioned,” said Police Commissioner Sewell. 

“However, judges should be given the ability to hold career and violent criminals in custody pending trial. We need to maintain the reforms we all agree on – yet at the same time, pull together to keep New Yorkers from being harmed. Our collective focus must be on the victims of crime.” 

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