A new report has revealed that Darcel Clark, who according to New York City’s government website is the first black woman to serve as a District Attorney in New York State, has overseen the worst conviction and dismissal rates in almost every major crime category for her borough in the Bronx.
The 61-year old district attorney has refused to prosecute more arrests for attempted murder in the past five years than the rest of the city’s prosecutors put together, per data collected by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The New York Post reported that she has done nothing to go after a minimum of 101 attempted-murder arrests of varying types since 2018, while the other four district attorneys declined to prosecute 80 attempted homicide arrests combined.
Criminal defense lawyer Todd Spodek told The Post that he has seen numerous Bronx County cases be dismissed for various reasons, with none of them concerning the merties.
“They were dismissed based on prosecutors being unable to file certificates of compliance on time, based on prosecutors having uncooperative witnesses,” he explained. “It’s never one thing, it’s always a lot of things combined.”
Clark’s office has ended with a guilty verdict in only 60% of murder arrests, less than the 62% observed in Brooklyn, 66% in both Queens and Staten Island, and 76% in Manhattan, according to The Post.
The Bronx DA makes no effort to hide her leftist views, as was seen in a photo she recently posed for along with Moms Demand Action, a far-left advocacy group that calls for extreme gun control measures such as banning civilian use of large swaths of constitutionally protected firearms.
@MomsDemand volunteers joined the 38th annual Survivor Voices – New York Crime Victims Candlelight Vigil at West End Collegiate Church today w/ @ManhattanDA Alvin Bragg, @BrooklynDA Eric Gonzalez and @BronxDAClark Darcel Clark
Together let's #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/4wHMfVwnCL
— Lawrence Lambert – text FED UP to 644-33 (@LawrenceBKLYNNY) April 23, 2023
Clark has emphasized a focus on helping bust criminals out of jail rather than ensure they get locked up, as was seen in an interview she gave at a town hall meeting around six years ago in which she discussed an “integrity unit” that she opened up with the intention of reviewing past convictions in her office.
She additionally talked about a similar program that gives suspected criminals an opportunity to “vacate” any outstanding warrants they may have disobeyed.
