Crime in the subway is real by any name
During the hearing at last week’s house, Manhattan representative Jerry Nadler said: “The figures do not lie” on the crime in the New York metro. But what I am going to show you is that the statistics that Democrats like Nadler hold in expensive life were picked and masked the fundamental problem of the Big Apple with crime.
You see, the crimes have not disappeared – they were redefined. Dangerous offenders are not arrested – they are released under the laws that Albany has adopted and certain prosecutors refuse to challenge. Even if the police do their job, the cases are abandoned, the accusations are delayed and that justice is deferred. The figures are tortured to tell a cleaner story – but the horsemen know the truth, because they live it.
Yes, overall, “major crimes” in the metro system are slightly down – approximately 5.4% compared to last year and approximately 11.4% compared to 2019, going from 2,499 incidents reported in 2019 to 2,213 in 2024. But this title hides what is really happening underground: a dangerous and growing increase in violence.
Since 2019, criminal assaults in the metro have increased by more than 53%, going from 374 incidents in 2019 to 573 in 2024. This year only, criminal assaults are stable compared to 2023-but also well above pre-reform levels. Meanwhile, reported rapes doubled over this same five -year period. In total, the crimes of violent clues in the metro system went from 974 in 2019 to 1,177 in 2024 – an increase of 21%.
These are not partisan discussion points – These are the data that Nadler refuses to mention. He has been at the congress since 1992, long enough to attend the violence of the metro in the late 90s and the early 2000s – and now long enough to see him go up. In 1996, there were more than 3,000 violent crimes in the metro. In 2009, this number fell below 1,000. Today, it rises again – and quickly.
And while managers compete for clues, riders live with reality. This is not the safety of the system on a spreadsheet. It is a question of how it feels safe on the platform. To the woman who comes home late, the senior went to an appointment with the doctor, the student on an unknown line – fear is real. They are not afraid of “index crimes”. They fear being pushed, stabbed or worse.
They have reasons to do so. In December 2024, a woman was murdered by having been burned alive on a metro car after a man set fire to her clothes using a lighter. This same month, a man was fatally stabbed at the Town Hall station – during peak hours. These attacks can be statistically rare, but they shape the perception of the public – and rightly so.
Meanwhile, the very definition of crime has changed. With the reforms of the guarantee and discovery of New York in 2019, entire categories of offenses – including many violent – are no longer detained. Judges cannot consider public security. Prosecutors are faced with puning times and disclosure charges. Even when they want to act, they often can’t.
The law of New York, the Age Act, has further biased the photo on transit crime. Since 2019, most children aged 16 and 17 have not been prosecuted in adulthood – even for violent crimes. Instead, their cases are sent to the family court, where they often do not appear in the crime statistics reported by the NYPD or the MTA. Aside from the policy of politics, it is essential, because adolescents were involved in an increasing number of metro flights, assaults and group attacks. In fact, juvenile arrests for violent crimes – including many transits and around – increased in 2023 and 2024, but these offenses were widely excluded from data on public crime. The result? The runners said to themselves that violent crimes are decreasing – even if they testify more with less consequences.
In fact, an analysis of the NYPD in 2023 revealed that 327 people had been arrested more than 6,000 times over only two years – and released several times under the current law. In the Bronx, the district prosecutor’s office dropped 69% of its cases in 2022, compared to only 27% in 2019, citing impossible deadlines under new discovery rules.
So yes, certain categories of crimes are “broken down” – but only because New York State has redefined crimes, has deleted the proceedings and discouraged the application. It is not a drop. It is a costume.
New Yorkers deserve better. We need more police officers in the system, better mental health response, modern surveillance and real responsibility. Above all, we need courage to face reality – not to manipulate it.
Because the metro is not only a symbol of New York – it is a test to know if public security is always important. And the figures are only part of the story. The truth rises with the passengers.
Molinaro, a former member of the New York Congress, was appointed by the President to lead the Federal Transit Administration, where he is currently a principal advisor.
