Historic New Low For NYC Homicides

Gothamist reports:

At today's NYPD graduation ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg announced some impressive news: The 2013 murder total, through today, was 332—a 20.7% drop from 2012's total of 419. This is the lowest since the city started keeping track in 1963. Bloomberg bragged, "New York’s crime-fighting strategies have made us America’s safest big city—and one that cities across the globe want to learn from. Twelve years ago, no one thought New York’s crime rate could go any lower. But it did: since 2001, crime has gone down by 32 percent and in a city of 8.4 million people, there have been fewer than 350 homicides."

At the peak of the crack epidemic in the late 80s/early 90s, New York City saw about 2000 homicides annually. Gothamist has the breakdown by year at the link.

Read more »

Posted in: 2013 in review,crime,murder,NYC

BROOKLYN: Gay Man Claims Hate Crime Attack By Group Of Hasidic Men

A gay fashion student claims that he was attacked and beaten by a group of Hasidic men while walking on the street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The New York Daily News reports:

Taj Patterson, 22, was headed home to Fort Greene around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 when he says more than a dozen ultra-Orthodox Jewish men began assaulting him on Flushing Ave. and yelling, “Stay down, faggot!” “I’m walking down some block by myself and then the next thing I know, I’m surrounded by a group of Hasidic Jewish men and they’re attacking me,” Patterson said. “I was alone. I was an easy target. I’m black. I’m gay, a whole slew of reasons." The New York City College of Technology student left for a fun night out with friends, and returned with a broken eye socket, a torn retina, blood clotting, and cuts and bruises to his knee and ankles. He was rushed to Woodhull Hospital and is expected to undergo surgery to reattach his retina.

An NYPD hate crimes unit is investigating. The police report says that Patterson was "highly intoxicated, uncooperative and incoherent" after the attack. According to the Daily News, the attack was witnessed by an MTA bus driver.

Read more »

Posted in: Brooklyn,crime,NYC,Williamsburg

Quote Of The Day - John Scarpa

"A sentence of 25 years to life is an incredibly long period of time, judge. Shouldn’t that be reserved for people who are guilty of killing certain classes of individuals? Who is the victim in this case? Is the victim a person in the higher end of the community? Amanda was engaged in a life of prostitution, life of drug use, HIV exposure. She was having sex with other individuals knowing she had the chance of spreading diseases." - Queens attorney John Scarpa, defending his client Rasheen Everett for the murder of transgender prostitute Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar.  The judge slammed Scarpa's comments then sentenced Everett to 29 years in prison.

The Anti-Violence Project has issued a statement:

AVP is calling for a public apology by Scarpa for this outrageous statement that says that transgender women and sex workers should be legally devalued by society. This type of speech is tantamount to hate speech and says that LGBT people, and particularly transgender women, are “other” and not worthy of protection. This hate speech is irresponsible and we are also calling on the Queens District Attorney’s office to issue a public condemnation of Scarpa’s dangerous and offensive remarks.

Read more »

Posted in: crime,disgusting,hate crimes,murder,NCY LGBT Anti-Violence Project,NYC,prostitution,Queens,transgender issues