Question Alvin Bragg's Methods, But the Numbers Don't Lie

""The ultimate metric is that shootings are down during my tenure, down 70 percent in Manhattan. That's the ultimate output," he told me. Murders are down 52 percent. "I think the four-years-plus body of work speaks for itself.""

"More than a decade ago, a wave of elected prosecutors were thrown out of office by voters who had grown sick of seeing vast amounts of energy and legal resources used for marijuana possession and other low-level crimes while cases involving misconduct by police or prosecutors were largely ignored."

"As law professor David Sklansky has noted, decades of mass incarceration during the War on Drugs led to local prosecutor races in which 'candidates competed to see who could sound the toughest. The favored policy prescription was almost always more: more prosecutions, more prisoners, more years behind bars.'"

During Alvin Bragg's tenure as Manhattan District Attorney, shootings have decreased by 70 percent and murders by 52 percent. This data contributes to the national debate on the effectiveness of progressive prosecutors in ensuring community safety. Elected leaders, including prosecutors, are responsible for setting criminal justice policy, rather than deferring to law enforcement. The past decade has seen a shift in public sentiment against the over-prosecution of low-level crimes, highlighting the need for a balanced approach to criminal justice.

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