Pop criminal-justice quiz: What does New York state do with a violent individual who randomly attacks a sleeping stranger on a Brooklyn A train, threatening to kill that stranger and then repeatedly stabbing him in the stomach and arm?
Does the state a) determine that the suspect, Alvin Charles, is a danger to society and keep him in jail until his speedy fair trial? Or b) order a psychiatric evaluation to determine if Charles needs mandated long-term treatment since randomly attacking fellow straphangers isn’t exactly normal behavior?
No, sorry, the correct answer is c) release the suspect without bail — so that he can stab another random stranger on a different Brooklyn subway, this time with fatal results.
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Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. Follow her on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in New York Post