In 2019 and 2020, Black people accounted for 49.8% of those charged with misdemeanors despite making up just about a quarter of NYC's population, according to a new study. Latinos were also overrepresented. Such cases rarely resulted in convictions.
his position in the face of criticism that he was going easy on repeat offenders as violent crime in the city was spiking. While the report doesn’t mention Bragg, its data back up his original assertion that the NYPD overwhelmingly uses the resisting arrest charge against Black people. In the two years studied, 65% of those arrested for resisting arrest were Black.
Richard Aborn, a former prosecutor in Manhattan and president of the nonprofit Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, also reviewed the report for Gothamist and said the racial disparities might be affected by geography, because certain neighborhoods are more heavily policed — which he said is justified.
Robert Gangi of the Manhattan-based Police Reform Organizing Project released a study on racial discrepancies in arrests last week that mirrored what the Center for Court Innovation found.