Newly Elected Black Reformer Manhattan DA Already 'Getting Reformed Into the System' as He's Forced to Walk Back Prosecution Policies Criticized as Too Lenient [on the Blacks and Latinos]

According to FUNKTIONARY:

reform - superficial change in form and formalities (fictitious change) which only further lubricates the status quo by renovating and painting old society in new colors. 2) appearance of change sans the change. Reform is always in the service of the status quo and the politician: it serves the privilege of the past not the promise of the future. [MORE]

From [HERE] Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in New York City on Friday reversed parts of a Jan. 3 memo that directed prosecutors to avoid seeking jail time for some robberies, assaults and gun crimes.

The initial memo, issued a few days after Bragg took office, had told prosecutors that they should seek jail time only for the most serious offenses, the New York Times reports. The document, which implemented his campaign promises, “prompted weeks of pushback from police officers, small business owners and public officials, making Mr. Bragg a political target,” the article reports.

Since then, Bragg has clarified and modified his new policy, completing “the pivot that he started to make shortly after the backlash began,” according to the New York Times.

ABC News, the New York Post and NBC New York also have coverage of the Feb. 4 memo, posted by the New York Post.

The articles outline these revisions:

• Bragg originally said robberies would be charged as felonies only if they created a genuine risk of physical harm. His new policy says commercial robberies involving the use of guns, realistic fake guns and other weapons carrying the risk of physical harm would be charged as felonies. “A commercial robbery with a gun will be charged as a felony, whether or not the gun is operable, loaded or a realistic imitation,” Bragg now says.

• The first memo did not say prosecutors should seek jail time for gun possession. Bragg’s new policy says “the default in gun cases is a felony prosecution.”

• Bragg originally said the crime of resisting arrest, standing alone, would not be prosecuted. His new policy says anyone who harms or tries to harm a police officer will be prosecuted. “Violence against police officers will not be tolerated,” Bragg now says.

Bragg also told prosecutors that they were hired for their experience and judgment, and it would be up to them to determine how to charge individual cases.