Actor Steve Buscemi was recently assaulted in broad daylight in New York City.
Reacting to the incident, Judge Judy Sheindlin said, “Oh I know how we got here.”
Sheindlin continued, “We got here because a small group of people who have very loud voices created a scenario where bad people got rewarded. And the victim got punished by the system.”
Judge Judy Sheindlin emphasized that while there may be underlying reasons for crime, they do not excuse criminal actions.
Sheindlin said, “You know there is always a reason for criminal behavior – didn’t have a good upbringing, didn’t have two parents in the house, didn’t have one parent in the house. There’s always a reason. You’re mentally ill. That’s a reason. You took drugs, that’s a reason. You took alcohol, your brain is fried… Whatever it is.”
She continued, “there is never an excuse for bad behavior. And when society started to make excuses for bad behavior, and react to criminality based upon the excuses, it fell apart.”
Sheindlin continued, “You’re just as dead as somebody 18 kills you, or 17. You’re just as dead. And if you’re 17 years old and kill somebody, you don’t belong with kids who are 12, in a juvenile facility… But a very small group of people pushed through in New York State, for instance, raising the level of criminal responsibility.”
New York introduced the Raise the Age law in 2019, elevating the age at which a defendant can be prosecuted as an adult in criminal cases to 18. Before this legislation, New York, along with one other state, treated 16-year-olds as fully accountable for crimes.
Judge Judy Sheindlin responded saying, “Well, that’s ridiculous. If you have family, if you have a mother who’s 65 years old who’s walking to the grocery store and some crazy for no reason hits her over the head with a steel pipe and kills her, and they’re 17, that person should never be allowed to walk the street again, because society can’t take a chance.”
Buscemi was attacked on Third Avenue in Manhattan, resulting in a black eye and bleeding.
The suspect, identified as 50-year-old homeless man Clifton Williams, was charged with second-degree assault.
The New York Police Department reported a 7% increase in crime in 2024.
Governor Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard to aid NYPD in subway bag searches.
Crime rates showed a drop in murders and shootings but a rise in misdemeanor assaults. Washington, D.C., witnessed an increase in robberies and violent crimes in 2023, including a significant rise in carjackings.
Sheindlin criticized district attorneys who have strayed from their duties, although she did not specifically mention any by name.
Sheindlin said, “When you have district attorneys who are charged, whose job it is to do justice, but to keep the community safe … When you have elected district attorneys who don’t know what their job is, they should go find another job.
Fill ice cream cones someplace. But don’t ruin cities. And what’s happened around New York City, Portland, San Francisco, you had district attorneys who didn’t know what their job was. And the cities are ruined, people are leaving.”
She came to the conclusion, “I think we better get smarter before we get lost. Permanently lost.”
After her 25-year tenure on “Judge Judy,” Sheindlin is currently in her third season of “Judy Justice,” available for streaming on Amazon Freevee. She finds this new show to be enjoyable as it incorporates familiar elements from her time in family court, such as having a clerk and a stenographer.
Charles B Hall
May 24, 2024 at 7:18 pm
Judge Judy clearly does not follow the crime statistics. Most US cities are observing declines in the most serious violent crimes such as homicides; those stats are the most reliable as they aren’t as affected by reporting patterns. New York City’s homicides have declined 17% this year compared to last; shootings have dropped 16%. NYC has concentrated on reducing the most deadly crimes and the result has been that the 2023 homicide rate was 44% lower than in 2001, Rudy Giuliani’s last year as Mayor, and 86% lower than in 1990, David Dinkins’ first year as Mayor. And that success continues this year.