New York’s Discovery Law Hurts Crime Victims

State legislatures are reeling in the criminal-justice reforms they passed amid the anti-police enthusiasm of the George Floyd summer of 2020. Last year, Oregon undid its drug decriminalization following surging overdoses and public consumption. North Carolina and Louisiana reattached criminal consequences for older teens after “Raise the Age” legislation fueled teen violence. And California’s Proposition 36 resurrected felony charges for shoplifting and drug offenses that Proposition 47 had removed. Walking back these ill-considered measures is good news.

New York might also ease back the most extreme elements of its 2020 statewide discovery law, which created one of the nation’s most pro-defendant legal regimes, Hannah E. Meyers writes. The reforms created a uniquely high burden for evidence collection, forcing prosecutors to scrounge up patently meaningless “evidence” or else be forced to dismiss their cases.

But if New York doesn’t make changes to its discovery law by April 1, when the state budget must be finalized, legislative inertia could prevent meaningful reform for years, Meyers warns.

President Trump has repealed Joe Biden’s sweeping EV mandate, which required that automakers make up to 56 percent of new vehicles electric—a policy that would have hurt consumers, distorted markets, and created national security risks. EVs remain too expensive for most Americans, they rely on China-controlled supply chains, and overreliance on them would further strain the U.S. electrical grid. Scrapping the mandate restores market competition, protects consumers, and safeguards America’s energy security, writes John Garnett.

In the winter issue, City Journal Contributing Editor Howard Husock writes about the Fulton & Elliott–Chelsea Houses projects in New York City, which will be torn down and reimagined as an entirely new neighborhood, with parks, shops, and a combination of rich and poor residents. And the buildings will be managed by a private entity, not the city’s Housing Authority. Husock explains why it’s such a promising way forward for public housing.

When he was homeless in San Francisco, Tom Wolf was addicted to heroin and fentanyl. He saw firsthand how the city’s “harm-reduction” policy, which tried to make drug use “safer,” devasted neighborhoods and residents there. But he’s optimistic that the city’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, is following a better course and can turn things around.

“There is no reason that our public broadcasting systems should have anything like this level of political bias….or, for that matter, savage ignorance.”

Photo credits: Anadolu / Contributor / Anadolu via Getty Images