FILE:
NEW YORK (77WABC) — The number of prosecutors leaving the city’s DA’s offices has spiraled in the wake of criminal justice reforms.
According to the New York Post, 65 assistant district attorneys, or about 12 percent of the staff, have resigned so far this year from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office, up from about 44 through the end of March. During all of 2021, 97 ADAs quit. The Post also says that when Bragg took the helm of the Manhattan office in January, at least nine lawyers quit in the first two weeks.
The Post’s report says that in Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez’s office, 67 or about 13 percent have also quit as of June 17. In the Bronx, 59 prosecutors have walked from January through May.
Sources say some left because of Bragg’s soft-on-crime approach which he outlined in a “Day One” memo directing ADAs to not seek prison sentences for many criminals and to downgrade some felonies to misdemeanors.
