In early August of 2020, a serial offender — let’s call him “John” — was arrested and arraigned in Manhattan criminal court, according to anonymized data released by the New York State Office of Court Administration. John, a 55-year-old Black man, was charged with assault with intent to cause physical harm with a weapon, a class D felony. He had two prior violent felony offenses, two misdemeanor convictions and a third pending misdemeanor on his record.
Yet that same day, Judge James Clynes released John on his own recognizance, with neither bail nor other restrictions imposed. Also that same day, OCA data show, John was rearrested for another violent felony, the second such offense in 24 hours.
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Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News