The latest pro-crime measure bubbling up in Albany may be among the worst yet: a crackbrained plan from Harlem Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs and Brooklyn state Sen. Kevin Parker to provide criminals leaving prison with nearly $2,600 in taxpayer-funded pocket money.
Gibbs and Parker literally want to undo the old adage and make crime pay.
And have non-criminals foot the bill.
The hard-left duo justifies the scheme with the usual noise about poverty causing crime (news flash: it doesn’t) and whining about the “dignity” and “stability” of ex-cons.
Nary a thought spared, of course, for the dignity and stability of people who never break the law.
The move has nothing to do with preventing future crime.
Indeed, the data show that Albany’s monstrous efforts at criminal justice reform have had the opposite effect.
Like driving a 66% recidivism rate among offenders with recent prior arrests — with almost half of the re-arrestees getting hit with a felony charge.
Or tripling the number of teen shooters and victims since 2017.
No, this bill is about signaling to law-abiding citizens whose side these “public servants” are actually on.
When push comes to shove, progressive Dems say, we back the crooks.
The program’s expected to cost at least $25 million — and the handout would rise to match inflation every year.
And of course the bill has nothing about tracking how the money gets spent.
Why aren’t people who don’t rob liquor stores or mug straphangers in line for such largesse?
The proposal expresses the same ugly spirit as woke judges letting thugs like cellist-clobberer Amira Hunter free to prey on average New Yorkers.
For Gibbs to claim the bill is “investing in the safety and prosperity of our communities” is a brazen insult.
But it’s an inversion all too typical of the Empire State’s pro-crime Democrats.