Serious crime continues to rise in Gotham. As of March 21, compared with last year, the NYPD has reported eight more homicides (a 12 percent increase) and 63 more shooting incidents (a 40 percent increase) that wounded 69 more people (a 39 percent increase).
These numbers are particularly discouraging, because, at this time in 2020, homicides were down almost 12 percent, and shootings were up just 17 percent compared with 2019. There is good reason to believe that “reforms” enacted by city and state officials — which have essentially lowered the transaction costs of criminal offending, while raising those of enforcing the law — at least partly caused this increase.
A new round of “reforms” passed by the City Council threatens to fan the flames.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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Rafael A. Mangual is a fellow and deputy director for legal policy at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Follow him on Twitter here. Adapted from City Journal.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
