Penelope
Diamond Member
- Jul 15, 2014
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Take the case of Richard Gonzalez, a laborer Vance prosecuted in 2011 for the Husky utility knife he bought at Home Depot. The tool he had in his possession is exceedingly common, and generally used to cut drywall. Its exposed blade is about an inch long. When he was contacted by police in a subway station, Gonzalez wasn’t accused of using the knife to harm anyone, or even threatening to do so. But when an officer spotted it in his pocket, and found that it could be snapped open with a flick, he was arrested. Vance prosecuted Gonzalez’ case aggressively, and he ultimately served four years in state prison.
Snip
But there is no evidence that gravity knives, as a class, are especially prone to use in crime. And oddly enough, the law is almost never enforced outside of New York City. In contrast, as many as 70,000 people in the five boroughs have been arrested under the statute in the past 10 years, according to statistics compiled by the Legal Aid Society.
About 84 percent of defendants were people of color, and a disproportionate number of them were prosecuted in Vance’s jurisdiction. One study found that Vance’s office had prosecuted about four times as many felony gravity knife cases as the rest of the city’s DAs combined.
Public defenders complain that the law is little more than an easy way for officers to pad their arrest numbers in a quota-driven system. Maybe most maddening for lawyers who defend these cases is that such knives are still sold openly at retailers all over the city. The Legal Aid Society last year found more than 100 stores selling them in Manhattan alone. One hardware store on Gold Street in Lower Manhattan, a few blocks from Vance’s own office, has such knives in their front window.
While Vance has prosecuted scores of contractors, construction workers and other working people for their tools, he has not levied criminal charges against a single retailer for selling those same knives.
New York Just Saved a Law Used to Jail Thousands of Minorities
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So ok for stores to sell utility knives and gravity knifes, just not ok to carry them.
Same DA in this thread.
This looks a bit dodgy
Snip
But there is no evidence that gravity knives, as a class, are especially prone to use in crime. And oddly enough, the law is almost never enforced outside of New York City. In contrast, as many as 70,000 people in the five boroughs have been arrested under the statute in the past 10 years, according to statistics compiled by the Legal Aid Society.
About 84 percent of defendants were people of color, and a disproportionate number of them were prosecuted in Vance’s jurisdiction. One study found that Vance’s office had prosecuted about four times as many felony gravity knife cases as the rest of the city’s DAs combined.
Public defenders complain that the law is little more than an easy way for officers to pad their arrest numbers in a quota-driven system. Maybe most maddening for lawyers who defend these cases is that such knives are still sold openly at retailers all over the city. The Legal Aid Society last year found more than 100 stores selling them in Manhattan alone. One hardware store on Gold Street in Lower Manhattan, a few blocks from Vance’s own office, has such knives in their front window.
While Vance has prosecuted scores of contractors, construction workers and other working people for their tools, he has not levied criminal charges against a single retailer for selling those same knives.
New York Just Saved a Law Used to Jail Thousands of Minorities
---------------------------------------------
So ok for stores to sell utility knives and gravity knifes, just not ok to carry them.
Same DA in this thread.
This looks a bit dodgy
