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The latest announcement from Governor Kathy Hochul — that she will finally expand involuntary commitment — is a necessary but insufficient condition for public safety in New York.
But the governor must be even bolder and go even further in protecting the people of New York from the violent crime surge unfolding on the streets and subways.
The subway system saw the highest number of homicides in 27 years. Statistics only tell part of the story. No numbers can capture the gruesome act of setting a straphanger on fire and the sheer terror it strikes in the hearts of New Yorkers.
After weeks of declaring “mission accomplished” and taking subway selfies, Governor Hochul finally agreed to pursue the urgently needed policy changes that I have championed since the Ramon Rivera rampage: expanding involuntary commitment so that the Mayor has the authority he needs to relocate dangerous people from the subways and streets of New York.
In the three years since the shocking murder of Michelle Go, who was shoved in front of an incoming subway car by a schizophrenic, the Governor stood by passively like a deer in headlights and did nothing to protect New Yorkers from those with severe mental illness.
Governing is not about waiting years for more tragedies to happen. It’s about leadership, which is nowhere to be found in New York State.
For far too long, the broken system in Albany has chosen gaslighting over governing.
There’s no need to worry about New York, the political establishment tells us.
No need to worry about open-air drug markets on the streets.
No need to worry about sudden stabbings, slashings, and shovings on the subways.
No need to worry about fewer and fewer retail stores with more and more products locked inside cases.
No need to worry at all.
Just ignore your lying eyes. Except our lying eyes have not been the ones lying to us. It has been the Governor’s gaslighting and the broken system she leads.
Kamel Hawkins, who shoved an innocent New Yorker in front of an incoming subway car, was allowed to freely roam the streets and subways despite a known history of repeat violence.
Average New Yorkers have been left wondering to themselves: how can a criminal inflict a back injury on an officer in June 2019, only to be released back onto the streets?
How can a criminal be charged with assault and weapons possession in October 2024, only to be released back onto the streets? The release of the most violent criminals is a license to kill. And kill he nearly did.
The State of New York must retire the practice of releasing repeat offenders who go on to commit violent crimes against innocent New Yorkers.
We must re-examine any and all laws that have led to the release of repeat offenders and have impaired the ability of prosecutors to prosecute serious offenders throughout the State.
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The legacy of these well-intentioned social experiments has been a criminal justice system that, far too often, put its thumb on the scale not in favor of the victims of crime but in favor of the criminals themselves.
Most egregious of all, New York may be the only state — an outrageous outlier — that prohibits judges from considering public safety risk when setting bail.
The Governor should propose legislation, via the budget, that empowers judges to consider public risk, which is a matter of common sense. If the issue of public safety risk were presented to voters via a referendum, it would win the support of 80% of New Yorkers, across every demographic — black and white, Latino and Asian.
But in Albany, where the far left commands veto power over the rest of us, 80% issues are dead on arrival.
Common sense, which commands the broadest consensus and constituency among New Yorkers, should be the rule of governing in New York State, and nowhere more so than on matters of life and death.
Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres represents the 15th District.