Bragg’s Policy Shift Causes Furor, Though Few Cases Would Be Affected
The New York Times
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said he would not prosecute some instances of resisting arrest, prompting a dispute about the nature of policing.
When the new Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, announced a slate of new policies this month, one change that met furious pushback was the notion that the borough’s top prosecutor would no longer prosecute those who resisted arrest.
But a review of court records from recent years indicates that the type of resisting arrest cases Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors will no longer pursue are exceedingly rare in Manhattan and in New York City overall, suggesting that some of the resistance to Mr. Bragg’s agenda has little to do with his policies’ real world effects.
The offense he will no longer pursue — the stand-alone charge of resisting arrest or resisting arrest charged with other, lesser crimes — was prosecuted fewer than 76 times in 2020 under Mr. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr.
