A man is carried by police officers as arrests are made near Union Square, Wednesday, April 29, 2015, in New York. People gathered to protest the death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who was critically injured in police custody.
The New York Police Department is being forced to acknowledge they have arrested far too many people for victimless crimes. Now, the department admits they will have to do something about it.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has publicly accepted the fact that “millions” have been convicted of crimes that they should never have been jailed for.
The new controversial proposal suggests the City of New York grant amnesty to over 1 million citizens who have open warrants for low-level, clearly victimless offenses.
The prison industry warns that this will “cause crime to skyrocket,” but what the seem more worried about is the bottom line for their for-profit, tax-payer-funded prison schemes.
Commissioner Bratton first called for a lessening of penalties for smoking marijuana in public. Private use of the plant has already been effectively decriminalized in NYC.
But now, the NYPD Commissioner says that 1.2 city residents with open warrants should not be picked up for those warrants.
Many of these warrants are for unpaid tickets, disorderly conduct and public intoxication. The city simply cannot afford to jail people for victimless crimes any longer.
CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Monday that Council Public Safety Chair Vanessa Gibson said she too favors eliminating the backlog of warrants out on victimless crimes.
“I think it would be a very delicate conversation where we want to find the right balance,” Gibson, D-Bronx said. “We also want all New Yorkers to respect the laws we have on the books because laws are meant to be implemented. They’re meant to be enforced.”
Upper West Side resident Nick Damacco said, “I think it’s a pretty good idea as long as it’s not a felon”.
Watch the local report below…
Do you agree with dropping the warrants for people with warrants out for victimless crimes?