Alvin Bragg set to Become next Manhattan District Attorney
Alvin Bragg appears to have clinched the race to become the next Manhattan
District Attorney now that he has won the Democratic primary election.
This is because in a city like New York, it's unlikely that a Republican
challenger will emerge or succeed. This will make Bragg the next to run
the most powerful prosecutor's offices in the country. Alvin Bragg,
47 years old, is a lawyer who formerly served as the Chief Deputy Attorney
General in the New York State Office of Attorney General. He would be
the first person of color to lead the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Bragg grew up in Harlem, and attended Harvard for college and law school.
Following law school, he clerked for Judge Robert Patterson before joining
the law firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello. He joined the
New York Attorney General's Office in 2003, and became an assistant
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 2017, Bragg was
appointed to be chief deputy attorney general of New York and two years
later, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the
Manhattan District Attorney.
According to his website, Bragg plans to fight public corruption and white
collar crime such as by prosecuting officials who took bribes, corporate
contractors who pocketed money instead of providing services, health care
fraud, and other white collar crimes. He is also targeting justice for
sex crime survivors, reducing gun violence, and combating hate crimes.
When a new District Attorney is elected, this could result in a change
of policy in criminal prosecutions. In a city with over 8 million people,
even small changes can have big consequences. Could we see a large increase
in arrests for white collar offenses and sex crimes? Obviously time will
tell but on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein prosecution and Donald Trump
investigations, the stage seems set for law enforcement that targets white
collar and sex crimes over non-violent misdemeanors such as shoplifting
or making graffiti in a continuing departure from broken windows policing.