Overview
- At a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher said many shoplifting cases reflect “crimes of poverty” and argued for a treatment-not-jail approach to people who take basic hygiene items.
- Court Watch NYC told reporters it observed 360 arraignments over four days and found more than half involved misdemeanor charges, a finding Gallagher used to support her argument.
- Gallagher publicly defended her position on X, writing that “no one should be arrested—much less jailed—for stealing a tube of toothpaste,” and repeated calls to reduce enforcement of low-level quality-of-life offenses.
- Critics from both parties immediately condemned the remarks, with local Republicans and some Democrats warning the stance endangers businesses; retailers have already been moving toiletries into locked cases and some stores have closed citing theft.
- Coverage and legal context note that New York’s 2019 bail reform generally bars pretrial jailing for petit larceny and NYPD data through Aug. 9 show retail theft and petit larceny are down year‑over‑year, complicating claims that small-item theft typically leads to jail.