Three days ago, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and twenty-eight other elected officials published an open letter to Congressman Jim Jordan, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which distorted the facts about crime in Manhattan since Alvin Bragg took office as Manhattan District Attorney. Rather than cherry-pick numbers as these clowns love to do, I will present the full picture below.
NEW: 29 elected officials in Manhattan have written a letter to @Jim_Jordan.
We’re calling out his reprehensible attacks on the people we represent, and his lies about the state of public safety here.
We demand his sham hearing scheduled for Monday in Manhattan be cancelled. pic.twitter.com/3JAelv2zUS
— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 14, 2023
During Alvin Bragg’s first year in office (2022), the total number of felonies reported for Manhattan increased 25.6% over 2021, the year before Alvin Bragg took office. While the number of murders reported decreased 10% from the prior year, every other felony category increased over the prior year, before he took office. In addition, the number of murders reported in 2022 was 78 compared to 52 in 2019, 50% higher than the first year before the pandemic. The number of felonies (including murders) in 2022 was higher than every pre-pandemic year since 2006.
In 2023, the number of felonies reported for Manhattan slightly declined 2.4% compared to 2022, year-to-date). However, that slight decline in felonies in 2023 followed increases in the number of felonies for 2022 v 2021 of 25.6% and 2021 v 2020 of 11.1%.
Based on the current trajectory for 2023 year-to-date, the number of felonies will total 34,096 for the full year, which will still be 23.4% higher than in 2021, the year before Alvin Bragg took office as Manhattan District Attorney. (Source: NYPD Crime Statistics)
Click on image to enlarge.
Another crime statistic that Mark Levine and the 28 other signatories to the letter highlight is that NYC’s murder rate per 100,000 population for 2022 (5.2) is higher than Jacksonville, FL (16.1), Columbus, OH (15.4), and Bakersfield CA (9.6).
While those numbers are materially accurate, they do not consider the total number of violent crimes such as rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, in addition to murder. If we consider all violent crime, Manhattan is far more dangerous than Jacksonville, FL, Columbus, OH and probably Bakersfield, CA: (Source: Major Cities Chiefs Association)
Manhattan Violent Crime per 100,000 = 606.6
Jacksonville, FL Violent Crime per 100,000 = 550.2
Columbus, OH Violent Crime per 100,000 = 475.4
Bakersfield, CA Violent Crime per 100,000 = 509.9*
Click on image to enlarge.
Note: The latest violent crime statistics I could find for Bakersfield, CA was from the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2020. Violent crime in Bakersfield would need to increase by at least 19% per capita to match NYC’s violent crime numbers for 2022.
To summarize, violent crime in Manhattan is higher than before Alvin Bragg took office as Manhattan District Attorney and Manhattan is less safe than Jacksonville, FL, Columbus, OH, and probably Bakersfield, CA in terms of violent crime.
Written by,
Sam Antar
© Copyright by Sam Antar. All rights reserved.