Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg reflects on second year in office

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s eventful 2023 didn’t slow down for the holiday season, although he did find time to enjoy a cup of apple cider. On December 20, he sat down with the AmNews to reflect on his second year as the borough’s first-ever Black chief prosecutor. 

“This is a phenomenal privilege to serve generally—I’ve been an [assistant United States attorney], [an assistant attorney general], a counsel staffer, a judicial clerk; to have the public trust, these roles are of great privilege to serve,” said Bragg. “Certainly, as a district attorney, to have as my job to think about safety and fairness every minute of the day is not something that’s lost. 

“For someone like me, who spent [most of] his whole life on this island thinking about these sets of issues, it’s a real privilege to have this be what I get to do every day, and it’s a profound, sacred trust.”

But it’s hard to be a homebody when Manhattan is often the center of the world. In April, Bragg’s case against Donald Trump spurred the first criminal charges against an American president, former or sitting, in the nation’s history. Bragg avoids specifics—he doesn’t talk about ongoing cases—but said he brought the routine approach of “examine the facts and…apply the law” to the unprecedented prosecution. 

The Harlemite added that his focus is Manhattan, even if there’s chatter nationwide. After all, he’s far from the only district attorney in New York City.

Naturally, Bragg is most keen about how his work affects Manhattanites. He pointed to marked gun violence decreases in the borough, crediting his office’s focus on prosecuting “the people who were driving the most significant harm.” 

Just days before the interview, Bragg announced that a Washington Heights man pled guilty for assembling ghost guns—untraceable, homemade firearms typically made from 3D-printed parts—and threatening his girlfriend with such a weapon over a video call. Last November, he announced the guilty plea of another ghost gun manufacturer who allegedly sent photos of his 7-year-old son posing with a pair of firearms. 

Bragg also underscored non-carceral approaches, like expanding his office’s victim and witness aid services, as critical to gun violence prevention. He pointed to the citywide statistic that 97% of shooting victims are Black and/or brown, and said that is why his unit deploys men-of-color counselors and clinicians, rather than prosecutors, to work with the most-affected communities.

“We see, time and again, folks who are victims on one day may be witnesses the next and maybe defendants down the road, so getting through that trauma and treating it and addressing it before it metastasizes and results in additional violence [is important],” said Bragg.

Beyond gun violence prevention, the office also ramped up efforts to crackdown on hate crimes, expanding its investigation unit from three assistant district attorneys to roughly 20 this year. In October, Bragg announced his support for expanding the hate crime statute to include 31 new offenses, such as first-degree murder and second-degree rape. A similar initiative was introduced in Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State plan earlier this week. Bragg’s office told the Amsterdam News that there were 15 open anti-Black crime investigations in early November. 

Mental health and labor violations are quieter issues that Bragg tackled in 2023. He pointed to $9 million mental health investments, which include $3 million toward the Fortune Society’s “court navigators,” who build relationships with arraigned New Yorkers experiencing mental illness, homelessness, and/or substance abuse disorders to connect them to city resources when they’re voluntarily ready. 

“Someone’s leaving arraignment and they need emergency housing, and someone from Fortune can take them straight from the courtroom to emergency housing,” said Bragg. “That’s stabilizing, that’s humane, and it’s also public safety work. It’s going to cut down on recidivism.”

The office’s worker protection practice area also expanded this year, including several multi-million-dollar wage-related prosecutions. But Bragg said smaller cases can be as important, referencing allegations of an employer threatening to report a day laborer to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) after allegedly failing to pay him. 

Bragg called his upbringing in the “village of Harlem” critical to his office’s non-carceral work this year, like his post-conviction justice unit, which helped exonerate two Harlemites in November. Earlier in the year, he appointed Courtney Bennett, executive director of One Hundred Men of New York, to run the Manhattan D.A.’s Harlem offices.

“My priority is the safety of the Harlem community, and I am proud of all that we have accomplished uptown under D.A. Bragg’s leadership,” said Bennett by email. “One key focus area is deepening our ties with community partners to ensure that we are addressing the concerns of local residents. We have also put several new initiatives in place, including a youth public safety council that addresses crime and quality of life issues. We look forward to continuing this collaboration with all our partners to achieve our shared goal of a safer Harlem.”

After speaking with the AmNews, Bragg was immediately on the move to attend the sentencing of Khalid Barrow, who was convicted for killing his cousin, Nisaa Walcott. He sat solemnly and attentively as the 23-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. 

Afterward, the usually media-friendly Bragg opted not to talk to reporters and instead comforted the victim’s family. 
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.