Manhattan DA Dismisses 240,000 Warrants For Low-Level Crimes

NEW YORK CITY, NY – Hundreds of thousands of warrants for low-level crimes committed a decade or more ago were dismissed Wednesday.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance wrote off 240,000 warrants. On the same day, Bronx DA Darcel Clark announced the dismissal of 160,000 warrants in his borough.

His office cited reasons for the move including “ eliminating the collateral consequences of summons warrants for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and enabling them to collaborate more fully in their communities without fear of arrest.”

Clark echoed the comments in her statement.

"We know that quality of life is important to the community, but given the ten year passage of time – and many of these offenses are now decriminalized – these offenses no longer pose public safety concerns that would justify jailing people," she stated.

Another 140,000 summonses were dismissed in Brooklyn while Queens dropped 100,000.

Last month, the top prosecutors in every borough except Staten Island said they would forgive nearly 700,000 warrants to let the suspects move on with their lives and relieve burdens on the court system.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed the step.

“These warrants can derail lives, disrupt families, and lead to job loss and missed opportunity to contribute meaningfully to society,” he said in a Wednesday statement. “We are all safer when our police officers are focused on preventing crime and arresting dangerous criminals instead of processing the arrests of those who pose no threat to public safety.”

Vance’s office noted the warrant dismissal program comes amid a recent series of criminal justice reforms. The Manhattan DA recently promised to stop prosecuting fare-beating cases and has worked with the NYPD to issue summons instead of make arrests for low-level crimes like public urination.

Last month, Staten Island DA Michael McMahon said he would not dismiss old warrants, saying that would be "unfair" to people who do respond to them, according to silive.com.

Lead image by Branden Camp/AP.