There’s been significant reporting on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his push to implement socialism in the Big Apple. However, he is not the first prominent figure elected in that deep-blue city based on extreme far-left ideologies.
A recent example involves State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, who strongly suggested shoplifting should be legalized at a news conference outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday. Gallagher was joined by other left-leaning criminal justice advocates and members of Court Watch NYC. The group claimed it monitored 360 arraignments over four days and found more than half were for misdemeanor offenses.
“Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty—people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like soap,” Gallagher said, noting that “if you’re stealing those things, you need them.” She represents Greenpoint and other sections of northern Brooklyn.
“And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies, like CVS and Walgreens, over the people who are struggling to get by. So I would say that 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.”
As a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Gallagher stated she would continue advocating for “treatment—not-jail” punishments. Her remarks overlooked that first-time shoplifting offenders rarely receive jail time and that the lack of enforcement by advocates like herself has prompted many drugstores to lock products in plastic cases.
Her comments sparked immediate backlash on social media. Some advocates argue that shoplifting, bringing trash bags onto trains, sleeping in the subway, graffiti vandalism, public urination, or fare evasion should not be criminally prosecuted. Former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce disagrees, particularly for repeat offenders.
“Really, you have to go make those arrests,” Boyce said. “Otherwise, you’d have chaos on the street.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made her priorities clear when she was first appointed under Mayor Eric Adams: “The mission is to keep you safe, to make you feel safe and to improve your quality of life.”
