Voters in New York City and other Democratic-run areas may be content with their pro-criminal district attorneys, but that doesn’t mean residents in other cities and counties should be.
Maricopa County prosecutor Rachel Mitchell has declined to extradite Raad (or Saad) Almansoori from Arizona to New York City. “Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it’s safer to keep him here and keep him in custody, so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county, or anywhere in the United States,” Mitchell said.
Almansoori is accused of murder in New York City but is being held in Arizona without bail for an alleged carjacking and stabbing of one woman and an alleged stabbing of another woman in the bathroom of a McDonald’s. Almansoori is a violent threat to people across the country and a flight risk, having already fled Florida while out on bail on grand theft charges.
Bragg and his office can complain about this all they want, but the reality is that it is tough to trust that Bragg will handle Almansoori with public safety in mind. Bragg puts decreasing incarceration alongside decreasing crime as his top priorities, but while he pays lip service to the latter, it is clear that keeping criminals out of jail has been his top priority. Comparing 2022, Bragg’s first year in office, to 2019 (pre-pandemic), there have been marked drops in felonies and misdemeanors leading to convictions, a 20-point percentage drop in felony cases with bail requested, a decline in felony cases leading to prison time, and an increase in felony cases the office declined to prosecute.
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Take some of Bragg’s greatest hits, and you can see where his priorities lie. Two of his most high-profile cases were against men defending themselves and others from violent criminals, one of which Bragg is still pursuing and the other Bragg only dropped when videos leaked showing how shameful his prosecution decision was. Bragg also helped get a sweetheart deal in a rape case that allowed the offender to avoid a 25-year sentence to spend just 30 days behind bars.
Bragg does not believe in incarceration for criminals, so why should Mitchell or any other prosecutor believe that he would keep Almansoori off the streets any longer than Arizona will? Bragg does not get the benefit of the doubt here. He forfeited that with his repeated decisions to prioritize releasing criminals and keeping them out of jail over public safety. People in Arizona and other states shouldn’t be expected to send violent criminals to New York City if it means constantly having to look over their shoulders for them later on.