Riders of NYC’s crowded subways should suffice to worry about getting to work on time, without having to deal with lewd attacks.
On Saturday, State senator Diane Savino asked her female counterparts in the Assembly to help her pass a “Subway Grinder Bill,” which would make stiffer penalties for the worst repeat offender subway gropers. Since 2005, she has represented the 23rd Senate District, which includes parts of Southern Brooklyn and Northern Staten Island. The Democratic politician has long fought for the cause, but she says her bill has stalled in the Assembly for six years without so much as a committee vote.
As reported by the NY Post, last week, the latest version of her bill was passed by the Senate unanimously. Now she is urging the Assembly to vote. “Every female member of the Assembly should be demanding that this come to the floor for a vote next session,” she said. “And if people don’t want to vote for it, fine. But they should have to explain why they think these predators should be allowed to ride on public transit,” said Savino. “These are bad guys,” she added.
On Saturday, the front page of the Post featured an article about a Level 2 sex offender with 70 arrests, mostly for sexual abuse. Sen. Savino referred to the article saying, “They need to move the bill,” Savino said. The bill would step up punishment for recidivist subway “grinders” and masturbators, slapping them with felony charges punishable by up to seven years prison, depending on their prior criminal records. Currently, the crime faces only a misdemeanor penalty of one year in prison, and according to Savino, most offenders get little or no jail time at all. Her bill would also escalate the criminal penalty for an act of public lewdness on public transportation, which is now three months, to a penalty of one year in prison.
In June, Savino released a report entitled, “Perverted Justice: How Subway Grinders Continue to Victimize New Yorkers,” which studied the growth of sex crimes on the NYC’s subway system since 2014. The report found that sex crimes on the subway, known as “grinding,” are up by over 51.7 percent over a three year period. Reported incidents of forcible touching as well as public lewdness also rose from 2015 to 2016. “Subway grinding and lewdness are serious sex crimes meant to threaten and humiliate victims,” Savino said.
“These are guys who might be groping someone one day, and the next day they’re pushing you off the platform. This has actually happened,” she said, in reference to 23-year-old Bonnie Currie, who in 2017 was thrown off a Manhattan subway platform by an offender who first groped her from behind.
“While we pass my legislation over and over again, it’s horrifying these disgusting crimes are not met with appropriate punishment because the Assembly fails to protect straphangers. Without tougher penalties in place, serial offenders will continue to victimize passengers on the train and this issue must be taken seriously,” she stated.
