The evidence remains clear: Alvin Bragg is the only choice for Manhattan district attorney. His record of strengthening the borough’s response to gender-based violence and centering survivors — dedicating the resources and attention the issue deserves — is what the public should pay attention to. Manhattan voters should not be fooled by the lazy campaign rhetoric being thrown around in the race that clearly aims to drum up fear and play on old racist tropes.
I was horrified to see an ad placed by a billionaire-funded PAC claim that “Women aren’t safe in Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan.” Bragg’s opponent then doubled down on the fear-mongering tactic by shamelessly distorting the truth and exploiting family tragedies to score cheap political points in a recent opinion piece. They both would be better served by listening to survivors instead of trying to use them for political gain. Truthfully, they should know better.
As a survivor of sexual assault in Manhattan, I have worked tirelessly to reform how the Manhattan DA’s office responds to gender-based violence and can say that Bragg unequivocally puts survivors of crimes like the ones I endured first.
Bragg has delivered on his promise to center survivors and has dedicated the resources to back up the promise. Here are some of the ways Alvin continues to show up in the fight against gender-based violence day after day:
First, Alvin created the office’s first Special Victims Division, elevating the sex crimes, domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, and elder abuse units. The Division is led by staff with expertise in providing services to survivors and developing and implementing trauma-informed policies. Specially trained prosecutors and staff handle these sensitive cases in a trauma-informed and survivor-centered manner.
Second, he created key new staff positions, such as the deputy chief for gender-based violence policy. Adding a respected policy expert to the team to serve alongside the office’s prosecutors, advocates and counselors enhances the team’s ability to advance justice and center the experience of survivors.
Among other accomplishments, the new deputy chief and Special Victims Division leadership launched the “Special Victims Division Advisory Council,” a group that exists solely for the office to gain the perspective of external stakeholders, and the Survivor Network, a group of New Yorkers who have engaged with the criminal justice system who provide critical insight into how the office can do better by survivors.
Alvin isn’t hiding from feedback on this work; in fact, he is welcoming those most directly impacted by the work for close collaboration. This is what a strong leader does.
Third, he expanded the services provided to crime survivors through the creation of the Survivors Services Bureau. This ensures that all victims, witnesses, and families have a trauma-informed advocacy team to support their experience and has resulted in a more than 200% increase in the use of immediate survivor-centered support care. Alvin knows that it’s not enough to encourage survivors to come forward but then leave them without the resources needed to respond to what they’ve endured.
Finally, Alvin has taken on tough, challenging cases of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and human trafficking, securing convictions in multiple cases, including last summer from a man who raped a woman who knew him from their apartment building and a man who raped a woman as she repeated “stop” the night of their first date. Survivor justice isn’t performative and what’s important is that the office is willing to fight; they clearly are.
And there’s so much more — gender-based violence is but one issue Alvin is committed to. His relentless focus on gun violence has helped bring down shootings by 66%. He’s launched a community-based mental health initiative to get people the help they desperately need. He’s gotten justice for victims of tenant harassment, hate crimes, wage theft, and more. He’s making the system fairer and delivering one standard of justice for all.
Through my own experience navigating the criminal justice system, I learned that prosecutors’ offices are about power — how it is exercised and on whose behalf it is wielded. Survivors deserve a prosecutor who takes sex crimes seriously, who dedicates attention and resources to the fight against gender-based violence, and who delivers just outcomes by utilizing just processes.
Voters don’t have to be driven by fear; they can choose a candidate based on a superlative record of taking on tough, challenging cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking. With Alvin Bragg as Manhattan DA, justice and safety don’t have to be in opposition, and survivors can have a champion on their side.
Hoechstetter is a survivor and advocate.
