As Crime Soars, NYC Sees 37% Jump in Fatal Slashings and Stabbings
By: Hellen Zaboulani

The year 2022 is becoming notorious for a rise in fatal slashings and stabbings.
As reported by the NY Post, new NYPD statistics reveal that deadly stabbings and slashings are up 37 percent this year in New York City.

So far this year, there were 96 blade-involved killings, compared to 70 incidents for the same time frame last year. Overall, in 2022, stabbings and slashings (fatal and nonfatal) increased 10 percent, with 4,344 incidents logged compared to 3,954 last year from Jan 1 to Dec 11, as per the data. The troubling statistics come as NYC boasted 16 percent fewer shootings so far for 2022, with 1,474 shootings this year, compared to 1,757 in 2021. “Not everybody can buy a gun, so what’s the next best thing everyone has access to? A knife,” noted Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective who is currently an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “There isn’t real consequences if you get arrested with a knife; it’s probably just a misdemeanor and you’re going to be given a smack on the wrist,” he added.

The dismal slashing data doesn’t include the latest incident—a 27-year-old woman who was stabbed to death at a Midtown Manhattan homeless shelter on Friday evening just before 10 p.m., as per police reports. The attack was perpetrated by a 42-year-old woman inside the Project Renewal New Providence Women’s Shelter on East 45th Street near 3rd Avenue, as per the Post. Police say they found the body on the 6th floor hallway with stab wounds to the head, shoulder and thigh. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital but was pronounced dead just half an hour later, police said. Police are still searching for the killer, who fled the shelter and has not been seen since.

The weekend before, on Dec. 11, another heart-wrenching killing had taken place in a Harlem apartment. As per the Post, Saniyah Lawrence, a 16-year-old girl was fatally stabbed in the neck after allegedly getting into a fight with her boyfriend. Zyaire Crumbley, the 18-year-old charged with the murder, turned himself in to authorities the next day, as per police. The teen suspect has a history of six previous robbery arrests.

At the end of September there had been a 10-day period, in which three people were fatally stabbed in the NYC transit system. “You have the knife on your person, you encounter a confrontation and there’s no cooling off period,” Alcazar said. “How many times do you walk through the turnstile and there’s an EDP standing there staring directly at you, like he’s in a trance. You don’t know if that guy has a knife or a weapon.” Alcazar added that under the bail reform laws, NY DAs aren’t prosecuting low-level weapon cases, leading to a “comfortability” aspect for criminals. “Everyone’s packing because everyone feels they have to protect themselves with the surge in crime in New York City. Bad guys have to protect themselves from other bad guys.”

Overall, major crime in the Big Apple has jumped 24 percent this year. NYPD said that arrests in relation to stabbings and slashing are up 42 percent in 2022.