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Easing Up on Low-Level Crimes

The NYC Council will consider bills that would make summonses for low-level offenses like public urination and drinking from an open container in public civil, not criminal, offenses.

The New York City Council will hear a package of bills Monday that would make summonses for low-level crimes civil - rather than criminal - offenses.

This would give officers the option to charge a person civilly rather than criminally for things like public urination, drinking from an open container in public, and excessive noise. It would not include jumping subway turnstiles.

City Councilmember Rory Lancman (Queens 24th, representing Hillcrest, Briarwood, Kew Gardens Hills and Pomonok) and City Councilmember Vanessa Gibson (Bronx 16th, representing West Bronx, Morrisania, Highbridge, and Melrose), who each sponsored a bill, discuss how the new system would work to unclog the courts and the implications for Broken Windows policing.

As callers began weighing in, it became clear that many were concerned about discriminatory policing. Councilmember Lancman responded:

"81% of all the summonses issued between 2001 and 2013 were to Black and Latino New Yorkers. 90% of all the littering offenses, 93% of all the summonses for spitting. In the 40th precinct in the Bronx, there were 271 summonses issues issued per 100 residents. In the 11th precinct in Bayside Queens, there was 25 per 100 residents summonses issued. This is emblematic of the national conversation we’re having about over-policing communities of color."