There is no other way around it and no way to downplay it: New York City’s pro-criminal policies are getting its residents killed.
On Monday, Ramon Rivera went on a stabbing tour of New York City, murdering Angel Lata Landi, Chang Wang, and Wilma Augustin. The stabbing spree spanned two and a half hours and saw Rivera walk all over Midtown Manhattan in the process with blood on his clothes, as if he was on a casual stroll with not a care in the world.
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Here is Rivera’s record and history: He has been arrested eight times in New York City. In December 2023, he called 911, claiming he was suicidal. While in custody from February to October of this year, he assaulted a police officer and a worker at a hospital psychiatric ward. Rivera was also arrested multiple times in New Jersey, spent multiple stints in psychiatric wards, and was out on bail at the time of his stabbing spree.
Ramon Rivera repeatedly proved that he was unfit to be released into society, and yet New York City repeatedly released him anyway. Prosecutorial decisions, judicial bail decisions, and legislative decisions about homelessness, mental illness, and crime all contributed to this disaster. The unwillingness of New York City prosecutors and New York judges and legislators to keep criminals locked up got three people killed by a violent, deranged homeless man who has shown he can’t function in human society.
Just one day later, an armed robbery turned into a police shootout in Queens. NYPD officers shot and killed Gary Worthy after Worthy opened fire on them. An NYPD officer and a bystander walking out of Target were shot in the process.
Worthy had a criminal record going back to 1994, when he was charged with murder and ended up pleading guilty to manslaughter. He was released in 2021 on lifetime parole after serving 12 years “for attempted criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and burglary.” He has 17 prior arrests, with the most recent one being last Wednesday, after which he was released. Immediately. Without bail.
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As with Rivera, what could it possibly take for New York Democrats to conclude that Worthy has proven himself a threat to the public and unable to function in human society? A police officer and a woman trying to do her shopping were shot because New York politicians didn’t think a lifelong criminal with a history of violence spending his life in jail would be “justice.”
This is what happens when legislators, judges, and prosecutors focus more on combatting “mass incarceration” than on keeping violent people off the streets. “Criminal justice reform” was portrayed as being needed for poor, nonviolent offenders who made a mistake or two, and instead has been extended to some of the most despicable, violent people the country has to offer. Every death or shooting from someone who has been arrested enough times to fill out a punch card is the fault of not just the criminals involved, but the political figures who have put those criminals back out on the streets again and again.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
