Bob McManus has this article in the City Journal lamenting the parade of bad ideas on crime in New York, although the problem is certainly not limited to New York.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo is urging the exemption of mugshot photos and arrest booking information from public disclosure under New York's freedom of information laws. This is understandable, given the impressive montage that might be made from mugshots of one-time Cuomo aides, advisors, and associates now on their way to prison, but it nevertheless raises serious civil-liberties issues around press freedom and public information--and it seems like yet another gubernatorial pander toward the Democratic Party's crime-coddling Left.
Cuomo isn't the only politician moving in this direction. Virtually the entire Democratic presidential field has embraced it to one degree or another, as has every elected Democrat of note in New York. And Cuomo is typical of the state party's establishment. He long ago embraced sanctuary-statism. He has turned a blind eye to the wholesale theft of mass-transit services--that is, fare evasion--that cost the MTA $215 million last year. He's on board with the refusal of most New York City district attorneys to enforce laws against the public use of illegal drugs, and he strongly backs the legalization of marijuana. He hasn't said a word about the de Blasio administration's effective abandonment of quality-of-life policing in the streets, or about the need for discipline in public schools.
These positions are rooted in the left-wing notion that "social justice" must take precedence over criminal justice when enforcement of certain laws falls disproportionately on favored demographic groups. It's the doctrine of disparate impact, along with its cousin in the public schools, restorative justice--together, the two concepts are turning conventional standards of accountability on their head.
One Bad Idea After Another curated from Crime and Consequences Blog
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