In 2017 New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney Vance announced he would no longer criminally prosecute turnstile jumping, which is typically prosecuted under Penal Law 165.15 (“theft of services”). According to our models, a person arrested for theft of services (PL 165.15) had the highest probability of a misdemeanor conviction in New York County compared to a similarly situated individual prosecuted in any of the other boroughs during the years that DA Vance has been in office, controlling for all other measured characteristics available in DCJS administrative data including number of prior recorded arrests, misdemeanor convictions, felony convictions, age, race/ethnicity, and sex. Additionally, the rate at which prior misdemeanor conviction increased the probability of misdemeanor conviction from a misdemeanor theft of services arrests was steeper in Manhattan compared to the other boroughs.
*Preliminary results subject to change. Data work and models by Issa Kohler-Hausmann and Angela Zorro Medina. Data were provided by the DCJS to Issa Kohler-Hausmann in the form of micro-level arrest incidents and de-identified individual ID numbers. The analysis, opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author alone and not those of the DCJS. Neither New York State nor the DCJS assumes liability for its contents or use thereof.
