Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg’s eventful 2023 didn’t decelerate for the vacation season, though he did discover time to get pleasure from a cup of apple cider. On December 20, he sat down with the AmNews to mirror on his second 12 months because the borough’s first-ever Black chief prosecutor.
“This can be a phenomenal privilege to serve typically—I’ve been an [assistant United States attorney], [an assistant attorney general], a counsel staffer, a judicial clerk; to have the general public belief, these roles are of nice privilege to serve,” mentioned Bragg. “Actually, as a district lawyer, to have as my job to consider security and equity each minute of the day will not be one thing that’s misplaced.
“For somebody like me, who spent [most of] his complete life on this island eager about these units of points, it’s an actual privilege to have this be what I get to do each day, and it’s a profound, sacred belief.”
Nevertheless it’s arduous to be a homebody when Manhattan is usually the middle of the world. In April, Bragg’s case towards Donald Trump spurred the primary prison expenses towards an American president, former or sitting, within the nation’s historical past. Bragg avoids specifics—he doesn’t speak about ongoing circumstances—however mentioned he introduced the routine method of “study the information and…apply the legislation” to the unprecedented prosecution.
The Harlemite added that his focus is Manhattan, even when there’s chatter nationwide. In spite of everything, he’s removed from the one district lawyer in New York Metropolis.
Naturally, Bragg is most eager about how his work impacts Manhattanites. He pointed to marked gun violence decreases within the borough, crediting his workplace’s give attention to prosecuting “the individuals who had been driving essentially the most important hurt.”
Simply days earlier than the interview, Bragg introduced {that a} Washington Heights man pled responsible for assembling ghost weapons—untraceable, do-it-yourself firearms sometimes constructed from 3D-printed elements—and threatening his girlfriend with such a weapon over a video name. Final November, he introduced the responsible plea of one other ghost gun producer who allegedly despatched images of his 7-year-old son posing with a pair of firearms.
Bragg additionally underscored non-carceral approaches, like increasing his workplace’s sufferer and witness support providers, as important to gun violence prevention. He pointed to the citywide statistic that 97% of taking pictures victims are Black and/or brown, and mentioned that’s the reason his unit deploys men-of-color counselors and clinicians, somewhat than prosecutors, to work with the most-affected communities.
“We see, again and again, of us who’re victims on someday could also be witnesses the subsequent and perhaps defendants down the street, so getting by that trauma and treating it and addressing it earlier than it metastasizes and ends in extra violence [is important],” mentioned Bragg.
Past gun violence prevention, the workplace additionally ramped up efforts to crackdown on hate crimes, increasing its investigation unit from three assistant district attorneys to roughly 20 this 12 months. In October, Bragg introduced his assist for increasing the hate crime statute to incorporate 31 new offenses, equivalent to first-degree homicide and second-degree rape. An analogous initiative was launched in Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State plan earlier this week. Bragg’s workplace instructed the Amsterdam Information that there have been 15 open anti-Black crime investigations in early November.
Psychological well being and labor violations are quieter points that Bragg tackled in 2023. He pointed to $9 million psychological well being investments, which embody $3 million towards the Fortune Society’s “courtroom navigators,” who construct relationships with arraigned New Yorkers experiencing psychological sickness, homelessness, and/or substance abuse problems to attach them to metropolis assets after they’re voluntarily prepared.
“Somebody’s leaving arraignment and so they want emergency housing, and somebody from Fortune can take them straight from the courtroom to emergency housing,” mentioned Bragg. “That’s stabilizing, that’s humane, and it’s additionally public security work. It’s going to chop down on recidivism.”
The workplace’s employee safety observe space additionally expanded this 12 months, together with a number of multi-million-dollar wage-related prosecutions. However Bragg mentioned smaller circumstances might be as vital, referencing allegations of an employer threatening to report a day laborer to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) after allegedly failing to pay him.
Bragg referred to as his upbringing within the “village of Harlem” important to his workplace’s non-carceral work this 12 months, like his post-conviction justice unit, which helped exonerate two Harlemites in November. Earlier within the 12 months, he appointed Courtney Bennett, government director of One Hundred Males of New York, to run the Manhattan D.A.’s Harlem places of work.
“My precedence is the protection of the Harlem group, and I’m happy with all that we’ve got achieved uptown underneath D.A. Bragg’s management,” mentioned Bennett by electronic mail. “One key focus space is deepening our ties with group companions to make sure that we’re addressing the issues of native residents. We now have additionally put a number of new initiatives in place, together with a youth public security council that addresses crime and high quality of life points. We sit up for persevering with this collaboration with all our companions to realize our shared purpose of a safer Harlem.”
After talking with the AmNews, Bragg was instantly on the transfer to attend the sentencing of Khalid Barrow, who was convicted for killing his cousin, Nisaa Walcott. He sat solemnly and attentively because the 23-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state jail.
Afterward, the normally media-friendly Bragg opted to not speak to reporters and as an alternative comforted the sufferer’s household. Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public security for the Amsterdam Information. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps maintain him writing tales like this one; please think about making a tax-deductible reward of any quantity at the moment by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
