Far-left NBC News reports that out of the 485 looting arrests in New York City during last year’s 1619 Riots, a whopping 222 had all charges dropped against them.
Of the remaining, a mere 73 were convicted of the much lesser charge of trespassing, which means no jail time. Forty cases involved juveniles and landed in family court. Only 128 cases are still open, as Breitbart News reported.
Basically, what we now know is that if New York’s Democrats sympathize with the political cause you’re looting on behalf of, looting is legal, or at least de-criminalized:
In late May and early June 2020, looters smashed storefronts in the Bronx and Manhattan boroughs of New York City.
Many were caught on tape, some with their faces visible. Others even posted their own videos of their actions those nights on social media. Hundreds were arrested.
But a review of NYPD data by the investigative team at WNBC, the NBC owned station in New York, shows that a large percentage of the cases — particularly in the Bronx — were dismissed, and that many convictions were for counts like trespassing that carry no jail time.
As you can imagine, the victims of these crimes, the shopkeepers who lost everything, are not happy.
“I was in total shock that everything is being brushed off to the side,” said Jessica Betancourt, whose eyeglass shop was wiped out by looters. She’s also president of the local merchants association and added the word “disgusting” after learning of the numbers.
Democrats claim they want to protect people, especially young black men, from getting involved in situations involving law enforcement contact. But everything they’re doing to obtain that goal — dropping charges, bail reform, etc. — is only increasing crime, which of course means you have more and more people having contact with law enforcement.
If you want to lower civilian contacts with law enforcement, the way to do that is to deter people from behaving in ways that require intervention from law enforcement. This is not a difficult concept. But when you remove the penalties for breaking the law — as is the obvious case here — you incentivize and encourage crime, which increases law enforcement contacts.
No one is being helped when illegal activity, especially wanton as looting, goes unpunished.
This is also the end of overall law and order in New York City, especially when you’re talking about a situation like this one, where we all know hundreds of alleged marauders are getting off scot-free based on their political identity. If these alleged looters had been wearing MAGA hats, there’s no question each one would be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
What’s more, they would not have been offered bail and almost certainly, due to the political motivation, charged with some form of terrorism.
So there is no law and order in New York, nor is there equal justice.
The truth is that in one Democrat-run city after another, if you belong to a protected political class, you can be pretty sure that rampaging through the streets, destroying, and looting will come with no penalty.
Whatever.
New York voters are getting exactly what they voted for, and the cost will not only be more violent crime but the ruined lives of those who might have made some better choices if they feared actual repercussions for breaking the law.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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