Dan Quart will reform the criminal justice system and end mass incarceration by providing more alternatives to jail like addiction treatment, counseling, and mental health support. He won’t prosecute low level offenses that disproportionately impact marginalized communities like turnstile jumping, drug possession for personal use, or sex work. Instead, he will focus resources on violent and large-scale crime that make communities unsafe.
The idea that to be safer we must put more people in jail is a myth that has been peddled for years. Manhattanites know that mass incarceration criminalizes poverty, mental illness, and disproportionately affects Black and brown New Yorkers. Instead of pursuing the same punitive strategies that have been shown to fail, Dan Quart will reform the criminal justice system and end mass incarceration by providing more alternatives to jail like addiction treatment, counseling, and mental health support.
As District Attorney, Dan will prosecute less, period. He won’t prosecute low level offenses that disproportionately impact marginalized communities like turnstile jumping, drug possession for personal use, or sex work. Instead, he will focus resources on violent and large-scale crime that make communities unsafe.
You can read the full list of what Dan will and won’t prosecute here.
Dan has been a fighter for criminal justice reform his entire career. Growing up in subsidized housing in Washington Heights, Dan’s parents, a public school teacher and a social worker, taught him the importance of standing up for what’s right. As an elected leader, he’s been an outspoken and courageous advocate for reforming our criminal justice system that fails far too many Black and brown New Yorkers.