Bragg’s policies for major crimes will have even more serious consequences. Bragg has directed that armed robberies of businesses no longer be charged as robberies, but only as larcenies. If a gun-wielding robber gets away with less than $1,000, which is typically the case in a store robbery, the defendant will be charged solely with petty larceny, a misdemeanor. Felons in possession of a firearm will be charged only with misdemeanor offenses for the equivalent of unlicensed possession. Finally, drug traffickers will be charged with felony drug dealing only on the rare occasions that they are caught actually in the act of delivering drugs. Drug dealers possessing any amount of drugs and packaging material, but not caught actually delivering the drugs, will instead be charged only with drug possession, a misdemeanor. A drug dealer caught with 50 kilos of heroin would be charged with misdemeanor drug possession, not drug trafficking. It does not take a criminal genius to figure out that these policies will lead to more gun-toting, drug-dealing felons on Manhattan streets.

Who goes to jail on Bragg’s watch? Virtually no one. The only people Bragg recommends for pretrial detention and later prison sentences are murderers, shooters who actually cause serious injuries—firing 50 shots down a crowded street won’t get you locked up if you don’t hit anybody—sex offenders, and perpetrators of specific offenses such as domestic violence or public corruption. Burglars, robbers, drug traffickers, armed felons, gang offenders, and all the other categories of dangerous criminals in Manhattan won’t see the inside of a jail cell.