February 10, 2018 | The Associated Press
Fare beaters who hopped over grimy subway turnstiles back in the early 1990s were the first targets of a policing strategy that went after the smallest offenses and was credited with helping to drive crime down to record lows.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said his policy, which took effect Feb. 1, doesn’t prevent officers from stopping turnstile jumpers, and that those found to have weapons or an open warrant will be arrested and prosecuted. But a review by his office found that two-thirds of all those arrested in Manhattan for the crime had no prior convictions, and a judge posed no criminal sanctions on those who pleaded guilty, Vance said.
The Associated PressFebruary 9, 2018 | New York Post
The depraved preppy trust-funder charged with raping and sexually assaulting two unconscious women, while filming it and saving the recordings on his computer in files marked “unconscious” and “rape,” took a 10-year plea deal today in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Cameron McDermott, 32, of Hempstead, LI, faced up to 25 years in prison for multiple rapes and sexual assaults on two women in Manhattan apartments he occupied in 2010 and 2013.
New York PostFebruary 7, 2018 | The New York Times
The subway turnstile — low enough to vault, ubiquitous enough to figure in the lives of millions of New Yorkers each day — has long served as a kind of dragnet for the Police Department. There, officers lie in wait, nabbing those who skip the fare.
Of late, these rotating entry points and those who jump them have become stumbling blocks for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who despite his liberal credentials, has been vocally opposed to the Manhattan district attorney’s office's new policy of declining to prosecute most who are arrested over fare evasion.
The New York TimesFebruary 1, 2018 | ABC7 Eyewitness News
More than a dozen inspectors in New York City are charged with either not doing an inspection, or lying about what they found. What is worse is that prosecutors say the investigators may have put the health of workers at risk at thousands of construction sites in New York City.
The inspectors are all charged with failing to inspect hundreds of construction sites, then falsely certifying them as safe or misrepresenting lab results to conceal asbestos findings.
ABC7 Eyewitness NewsFebruary 1, 2018 | New York Law Journal
A diversion program touted as highly successful by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is set to expand to cover even more low-level offenders this month.
February 1, 2018 | The Hill
Lawmakers at a Tuesday hearing discussed ways to crack down on human traffickers who are using new financial tools to avoid detection.
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said his office has expanded where it searches for trafficking activity, both on the internet and the deep web, where cryptocurrency transactions are increasingly prevalent.
The district attorney said that trafficking sites on the deep web have seen their profits skyrocket thanks to the “drastic increase in the value of digital currencies such as bitcoin” in recent months.
The HillJanuary 25, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced a new effort to engage survivors of work-related sexual violence, encourage reporting of these incidents, and deploy specially-trained sex crimes prosecutors to swiftly investigate such reports. Staffed by 15 Assistant District Attorneys and a social worker, the Work-Related Sexual Violence Team will be led by Assistant D.A. Vanessa Puzio, a supervising attorney with more than 12 years of experience in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault.
The Manhattan District AttorneyJanuary 10, 2018 | Inside Cybersecurity
New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance says factory-default encrypted devices have stymied state and local law enforcement investigations into an array of criminal activity, arguing for some way to provide law enforcement access to devices while pushing for international collaboration to take down cyber crime.
Inside CybersecurityJanuary 9, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced a new effort to reduce inequality and unnecessary incarceration in the justice system. Beginning today, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will no longer request that bail be set in most misdemeanor and violation cases. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office implemented its policy in April 2017.
The Manhattan District AttorneyJanuary 9, 2018 | New York Daily News
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced Tuesday his office will no longer seek bail for most misdemeanor and violation cases.
Critics have long argued that the current bail system discriminates against poor defendants who are unable to pay.
New York Daily News