Criminal with 41 prior arrests shoves rider onto NYC subway tracks – but is set free in court

“A whacko with 41 arrests on his rap sheet was busted for shoving a Bronx subway rider onto the tracks Monday — then was promptly set free in court…Rafael Escobar, 51, left a 47-year-old victim with a brain bleed when he pushed him onto the roadbed at the Woodlawn 4-line station during an argument on the platform at around 7 p.m., cops said. Escobar was charged with both felony and misdemeanor assault, as well as harassment — but was set free on supervised release,” reports The New York Post.

A transit worker “helped hoist the victim back onto the platform before a train pulled into the station…The violent encounter left the victim with bleeding in his brain, severe back pain, bruising to his right eye, left bicep, left forearm and legs, and a cut on his head and back….He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.”

“Escobar’s dozens of previous arrests date back to January 1993.” Escobar and the victim “didn’t know each other.”  After being criminally charged with assault, Escobar “never showed up for a required check-in, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.”

Criminologist Peter Moskos criticized the failure to detain this dangerous man after his many offenses, noting that “progressives refuse to fix bail reform so this man is detained because because… I don’t know. They won’t tell me.”

Criminals often commit more crimes after being released. Nationally, 81.9% of all state prisoners released in 2008 were subsequently arrested within a decade, including 74.5% of those 40 or older at the time of their release. (See Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Prisoners in 24 States Released in 2008: A 10-Year Follow-Up Period (2008-2018), pg. 4, Table 4)). Incarcerating those criminals incapacitates them and keeps them from committing crimes against innocent people.

Failing to incarcerate criminals can lead to a high crime rate. When Italy released inmates early, that increased its crime rate significantly, by setting inmates free to commit more crimes, according to a 2014 study. (See Alessandro Barbarino & Giovanni Mastrobuono, the Incapacitation Effect of Incarceration from Several Italian Collective Pardons, American Economic Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1-37 (2014)). Other studies also find longer sentences cut crime.