Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are pushing for a sweeping overhaul of New York City’s justice system that would effectively eliminate the enforcement of all misdemeanor offenses, The NY Post reports.
In the party’s most recent platform, the DSA denounces traditional policing and incarceration, labeling them “instruments of class war” meant to “guarantee the domination of the working class.” The document also calls for dismantling “the criminalization of working-class survival.”
“For all of the working class to achieve collective liberation we must constrain, diminish, and abolish the carceral forces of the state — from prisons and police themselves, to their manifestations in all forms throughout society,” the national organization declared in its 2021 platform.
Throughout his campaign, Mamdani has repeatedly advocated for limiting police involvement in what he refers to as “non serious crimes,” signaling a clear shift in priorities away from traditional enforcement practices.
“Police have a critical role to play but right now we’re relying on them to deal with the failures of our social safety net, which is preventing them from doing their actual jobs,” Mamdani said in a campaign video posted to X on Wednesday.
The DSA’s criminal justice agenda goes even further, pushing to reduce arrests across the board, slash prosecutorial budgets, abolish cash bail and all forms of pre-trial detention, end electronic monitoring, and eliminate imprisonment for parole violations.
Mamdani, who represents Queens in the state Assembly and is a member of the NYC chapter of the DSA, has consistently challenged the purpose of prisons. He has long championed scaling back penalties for what he calls “non-violent offenses” — a stance he’s maintained both in Albany and on the campaign trail for mayor.
This week, Mamdani doubled down on his longtime support for legalizing prostitution, underscoring his broader philosophy of decriminalization.
However, after the Park Avenue massacre reignited public outrage over rising violence, Mamdani softened some of his earlier positions, saying he no longer supports cutting the NYPD’s budget and would maintain its current size. Instead, he pledged to refocus officers’ efforts on “serious” crimes while minimizing enforcement of lesser offenses.
Despite these statements, critics remain skeptical that Mamdani has truly shifted his approach to policing.
“I don’t buy for a second that he is moderated on any of these policing questions because he has yet to really articulate in any deep way why he’s moderated or how he’s moderated,” said Rafael Mangual, a legal policy expert at the Manhattan Institute. “All he has really said is that he no longer wants to defund the police, even though police and prison and jail abolition are core tenets of the DSA party platform.”
Mamdani has also questioned the very definition of violent crime.
“What violent crime is – is defined by the state,” he declared at a 2021 protest outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, where he demanded the elimination of cash bail and the closure of Rikers Island — promises he continues to make. “Violence is an artificial construction,” he added at the time.
The misdemeanors the DSA wants decriminalized, however, are far from trivial. In New York State, these offenses include theft and shoplifting of up to $1,000, drug possession, assault without a weapon, and even driving under the influence.
“They’re driving the city into a hole that’s never going to recover,” said Susan Ginsburg, a Greenwich Village resident frustrated by what she described as her neighborhood’s transformation into a “lawless drug den” under soft-on-crime policies that have enabled a revolving-door justice system.
“People will break the law with impunity. There has to be deterrent for breaking the law,” Ginsburg said.
“It’s astonishing that we’re even having this conversation,” added Maria Danzilo, an Upper West Side resident, 2022 Democratic state Senate primary candidate, and founder of the public safety advocacy group One City Rising.
“Everybody is so sick and tired of this, and we just want to have a normal, functional, reasonable way of getting through our day without worrying about being hurt. This is exactly the opposite of what New Yorkers need right now.”
To eliminate misdemeanor arrests, the state legislature in Albany would need to pass legislation either decriminalizing these charges entirely or downgrading them to non-enforceable infractions.
Governor Kathy Hochul, who has yet to endorse Mamdani in the mayoral race, does not support defunding the police, signaling a potential conflict between state and city priorities.
While Mamdani wouldn’t have the power as mayor to change state laws, he could significantly influence how they’re applied. He could direct the NYPD to deprioritize specific arrests or pressure district attorneys to avoid prosecuting certain offenses — similar to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s controversial “day one” memo, which instructed prosecutors to ease up on cases involving armed robberies and drug-related charges.
“That will create an EZ-Pass for criminals, enabling them to repeatedly commit misdemeanor crimes,” warned Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa. “This will make the police even less effective at enforcement. Ultimately, this will cause the quality of life to decline dramatically, leading to a breakdown of law and order and resulting in chaos and disorder.”
For many New Yorkers, the proposals are alarming.
“It’s just difficult to imagine how adults in their right mind could come up with it. I’m not exaggerating, I’m completely serious,” said Chelsea resident Alexander Kaplan. “We’re already suffering from terrible crime. This is going to make it a thousand times worse. And perception matters – just the notion of this would embolden criminals.”
{Matzav.com}
