Republicans argue Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, has allowed a crime crisis to flourish in New York. But data shows that, after a pandemic spike, crime is down slightly in the city.

by Luke Broadwater and Hurubie Meko
April 17, 2023

House Republicans descended on New York on Monday for a hearing that sought to use the issue of crime as a political cudgel against Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who charged former President Donald J. Trump with falsifying business records.

… So even though the hearing is ostensibly about crime, it is really about tarnishing Mr. Bragg and making it seem as if he is pursuing a political vendetta against Mr. Trump at the expense of his duty to prosecute violent crime.

… New York is also statistically safer relative to its population than other places in Republican and swing states, such as Jefferson County, Ark.; Robeson County, N.C.; Montgomery County, Ala.; and Bibb County, Georgia, according to Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “When you look at the per capita numbers, suddenly the Bronx and Queens don’t look all that scary,” Mr. Butts said.

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