New York City is all about rewarding criminal behavior these days. How? They’re bribing suspected criminals and people with bench warrants to make their scheduled court appearances by plying them with Mets tickets, store gift cards, subway passes, and movie tickets. And it’s costing taxpayers only $12 million: a bargain at half the price!

It almost pays to become a criminal.

According to CBS New York, Mayor Bill De Blasio is convinced that the plan (a variation on which has long been used by parents of toddlers with finicky appetites to get them to eat) will work:

In a world where we want speedier trials and we want the justice system to work, if small incentives are part of what actually makes it work, then that’s a smart policy. It’s not something we developed. It’s something that has been worked on by experts over time and proven to work and proven to be a good investment.

Let’s think about this for a minute. New York City instituted a “cashless bail policy” that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020. So instead of taking money in in the form of cash bail to release people accused of crimes, the city is paying money out for the privilege. Reports say that approximately 900 criminals will be released under the new program in mid-December.

The reform program eliminates “cash bail and pre-trial detention for misdemeanors and most low level felonies – with exceptions like murder conspiracy, domestic violence cases, and sex crimes.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he had no knowledge of De Blasio’s idea of giving gifts to criminals, even though he’s the one who pushed the new “reform” package. But not everyone is on the mayor’s giveaway bandwagon. Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon told the New York Post:

We are reaching the point of the absurd when those who are accused of serious offenses are free to roam the streets or even rewarded with gifts while the rights of victims continue to be ignored.

David Hoovler, president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, adds:

Communities should brace themselves for the new reality that our state will be experiencing in coming months. Drug dealers, house burglars, serial drunk drivers and other lawbreakers will be immediately back on our streets to re-offend without any meaningful supervision.

libertyunyielding.com/2019/11/09/nycs-latest-bribing-people-charged-with-crimes-to-come-to-court/