NYC judges have yet to use two-year-old statute to ban transit criminals

A statute that permits judges to ban subway criminals from the rails hasn't been utilized in two years.
Paul Martinka

Almost two years after New York politicians gave the inexperienced gentle to banning repeat subway criminals, not a single particular person has wound up on the no-ride listing, The Publish has discovered.

The state’s penal code was modified in April 2020 to permit judges to ban individuals who assault MTA employees or commit intercourse crimes on transit from using the rails as a time period of probation or conditional discharge.

However the statute has but for use, in line with MTA and courtroom sources.

The brand new legislation — which allowed judges to set exemptions for commuting and medical journeys — was a “compromise” with liberals within the State Meeting, in line with State Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island), who has pushed to raise transit intercourse crimes to felony standing for practically a decade.

“I’ve tried 12 months after 12 months to get the Meeting to elucidate to me why they suppose it’s acceptable to permit this conduct to proceed,” Savino instructed The Publish Sunday. “What’s the purpose of getting this on the books if there’s no actual accountability and nothing is going on?”

Previous to the 2020 statute, defendants must voluntarily conform to cease using the subways.

However earlier this month, MTA CEO Janno Lieber stated even the brand new legislation is much too limiting, as he bemoaned the company’s lack of ability to ban repeat transit offenders like Frank Abrokwa, the sicko accused of smearing feces on a straphanger.

The 2020 legislation lets judges stop individuals who assault MTA employees or commit intercourse crimes on transit from getting again on trains as a time period of probation or conditional discharge.

Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs

The legislation hasn’t been used to ban Frank Abrokwa, who allegedly attacked a lady at a subway station along with his personal feces.

DCPI

“I don't perceive why the MTA can not ban folks, like that man who had three prior assaults within the subway system, from utilizing our system,” Lieber stated on March 3 throughout a digital occasion hosted by NYU Rudin Middle for Transportation.

“Why do we have now to let these sorts of individuals [ride]?” he stated of Abrokwa, who has dozens of arrests since 1999, together with two different assaults on the transit system. “That man had 19 priors, had attacked subway riders and really had a hate crime assault as considered one of them.”

In a press release, MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan stated, “The transit system must be for individuals who are utilizing it for transportation. We hope that judges and prosecutors will use all of the instruments obtainable to maintain the system protected, particularly from recidivist criminals.”

MTA CEO Janno Lieber stated the company must be allowed to ban sure riders.

Paul Martinka

Abrokwa has a protracted historical past of arrests together with two others within the transit system.

Wayne Carrington

Union leaders, in the meantime, imagine the specter of penalties for reentering the system would deter assailants from putting once more. 

“We are going to gladly plaster their photographs all through the system and name the cops if we see them coming into their dwelling station or boarding their native bus,” TWU Native 100 President Tony Utano stated.

“If a ban, or the specter of a ban, deters even only one assault towards a transit employee, one assault towards a rider, then it’s value it.”

Extra reporting by Tamar Lapin