New York City police officials said overall crime in the city rose by 22.5 percent in February, attributing the increase to a new law that eliminates bail for defendants accused of low-level and nonviolent offenses, the Wall Street Journal reports. The biggest increase was for stolen vehicles. In February, 493 were stolen, a 61.6 percent rise from the 305 last year. The city recorded 1,413 assaults in February, a 9.2 percent rise from last year. There were 45 shootings last month, compared with 42 in February 2019. Murders were down 20 percent in February, and rapes decreased by 6 percent.
A state bail law effective Jan. 1 requires judges to free defendants accused of misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies. NYPD said “criminal justice reforms serve as a significant reason New York City has seen this uptick in crime.” The city also saw a 16.9 percent increase in crime in January, which officials also attributed to the bail law. Officials said since the beginning of 2020, 483 people who had already been arrested for a felony crime were rearrested for committing 846 additional crimes. To address the crime increase, the NYPD is redeploying officers and moving some people from administrative roles. The Legal Aid Society, which supports the bail law and represents defendants, said that because the police department “controls how, when, and where they arrest people and what they charge an arrested person with, it is easy for them to generate and then use statistics to promote a self-interested agenda.”