A New York democratic socialist lawmaker’s referral to shoplifting being the result of a “biological need” is getting swift blowback.
New York state Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher suggested this week that aggressive prosecution of theft of items like soap and toothpaste was wrongheaded, saying the “true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need.”
“This is exactly the wrong way to talk about crime and poverty. Poverty can help explain why someone commits an offense,” former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. “It should matter when prosecutors decide how to handle a case. But poverty is not a permission slip to steal.”
Aronberg, who now leads his own law firm, rejected the suggestion that prosecution necessarily means incarceration and pointed to alternatives available for first-time offenders.
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“Suggesting that someone who steals toothpaste for the first time is automatically being thrown in jail creates a false picture of how the system actually works. Prosecution does not have to mean incarceration,” Aronberg said. “There are diversion programs, treatment, conditional dispositions and other ways to impose accountability without ruining someones life.”
Retired New York Police Department Sgt. Joe Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC and a retired NYPD supervisor with more than 20 years of law enforcement experience, said politicians should focus on crime victims rather than make excuses for offenders. He also defended the policing strategy Gallagher wants to abandon.
” is a proven theory which holds people accountable for their actions and rightfully so,” Imperatrice said. “The tides are turning and everyday New Yorkers are getting sick and tired of this reckless narrative.”
“In the very near future we will thank all of these ridiculous so-called leaders for pushing the needle so far left that the great days of the late ’90s and early 2000s will be resurrected better than ever before,” he added.
Gallagher, who represents Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, made the remarks Thursday outside Manhattan Criminal Court during a news conference with Court Watch NYC and other lawmakers. She described misdemeanor theft cases involving basic necessities as “crimes of poverty.”
“People who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap. And that means if youre stealing those things, you need them,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher contrasted struggling New Yorkers with large drugstore chains
