Mayor Adams blames series of NYC crimes on recidivism over and over again

The recent killing of a police officer in Queens and an unprovoked incident of someone being pushed on a subway in East Harlem are causing people to question how quickly repeat offenders are released from prison.

The driver of the car that Officer Jonathan Diller stopped in Far Rockaway on Monday, as well as the passenger accused of fatally shooting him, had a combined total of almost thirty arrests in the past.

Mayor Eric Adams focused on repeat offenders at City Hall on Tuesday. He attributed the violence that occurred in the city on Monday night to recidivism. “He said that it’s the same people repeating.” “These individuals are engaging in harmful actions towards innocent individuals.” “It’s a battle between the good guys and the bad guys, and we need to acknowledge that.”

The person who is accused of shooting and killing Officer Tiller is named Guy Rivera. He has been arrested 21 times in the past, including nine times for serious crimes. He was arrested for assault and robbery in May 2011. Rivera admitted to the most serious charge and received a prison sentence of 3.5 years. In February 2015, he was arrested for having a controlled substance. In that situation, he admitted his guilt and received a prison sentence of six years.

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He was let go in September 2021 after being in prison for almost five years. The second suspect, who the police say was also in the vehicle during the incident, is named Lindy Jones and is 41 years old. He has been arrested 14 times before. In November 2001, he was accused of trying to kill someone and stealing.

In April 2023, he was arrested in Far Rockaway for having a loaded firearm, which is considered second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was released from custody after paying a bail amount of $75,000. The mayor has been stating that the existing state laws contribute to the problem.

He also mentions that District Attorney’s Offices are struggling because they don’t have enough funding. “We need to analyze the fact that many cases are being dropped and dismissed,” Adams said. “They cannot provide the discovery quickly enough.”
Agreeing with this point is Fred Klein, a professor of Law at Hofstra University. “That is completely true,” Klein said to Eyewitness News. “Although it may not be widely recognized or debated, it significantly burdens the criminal justice system.” The discovery reform and bail reform both took effect on the same day in 2020.

“According to Klein, due to the new discovery rules and how courts are interpreting them, it is a very complicated process to collect and provide all the documents in a criminal case to the defense,” “And then there are very short time periods for prosecutors to do that.” They are currently spending a lot of time organizing paperwork and using a computer instead of working in a courtroom and building cases.