Rape rate in NYC rises by 11%

The Big Apple has seen an alarming 11 percent increase in rapes this year—in some neighborhoods, the number has more than doubled.

According to NYPD statistics, 880 rapes were reported citywide from January 1 to July 14, compared to 796 during the same period last year.

“This should be a wake-up call,” said Jane Manning, director of Women’s Equal Justice. “The NYPD needs to assign more investigators to its understaffed Special Victims Unit to ensure every case is thoroughly investigated and dangerous criminals are caught.”

The areas with the strongest growth include:

• Manhattan’s 10th district – which includes Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen South and Hudson Yards – saw a 300% increase, with eight so far this year and two in 2023.

• The number of rapes in the Midtown South district of Times Square has more than doubled, from nine to 19 – an increase of 111 percent.
• In the 101st Precinct on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, the number of rapes increased by 100%, from 7 to 14.
• In the 105th Precinct in eastern Queens, the number of rapes has increased by 70% this year, from 10 last year to 17.

According to New York Police, most rapists know their victims, but there have been a few recent cases of “stranger rape” in the city.

In the Bronx on May 21, a deranged attacker was caught on video throwing a belt around a woman’s neck at the corner of East 152nd Street and 3rd Avenue, dragging her between two cars and raping her.

Christian Inga, a Venezuelan migrant living in Corona, was arrested for the rape of a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint in a Queens park on June 13 after police released a police sketch and surveillance photo of him.

The teenager’s father, whose identity the Post is not disclosing to protect the victim, said the family has been distraught since the brutal attack.

“We’ve been through hell,” the devastated father told The Post. “It’s just turned my world upside down and the healing process hasn’t started yet. He previously told The Post that he blames President Biden’s disastrous open border policy for allowing career criminals to enter the United States so easily.

In Central Park on June 24, a 21-year-old sunbather was lying in a bikini in a “secluded” spot when a man exposed himself and jumped on her, police reported.

The suspected attacker, 43-year-old Jermaine Longmire, was arrested after an intensive manhunt.

Longmire, who was charged with attempted rape and sexual assault, had been arrested at least eight times in the city.

According to statistics, there have been two rapes in the park so far this year, but none in 2023.

Experts say several factors could be responsible for this increase, including dwindling NYPD manpower, the rise of the immigrant population and the failure of bail reform.

“It’s no secret that the NYPD has significantly reduced its force size. Because it’s smaller, whenever the police decide to prioritize something — subway crimes, for example — the upper echelons become a little more vulnerable because there are now more cops underground,” said Rafael Mangual, a criminal justice policy expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Mangual said the risk of crimes like rape has also increased due to controversial policies, including evidence-gathering reform that requires prosecutors to turn over their evidence to defense attorneys earlier in the trial; New York’s Raise the Age law that raised the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 in 2018; and prosecutors who take a lenient approach to crime, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“The number of cases dismissed has increased (and) the number of cases not prosecuted has increased due to the progressive methods used by the Bragg DA, (Brooklyn DA) Eric Gonzalez and (Brooklyn DA) Darcel Clark,” he said.

Migrant accommodation could also be partly responsible for the increase in rapes in certain areas. However, without information about the addresses of the attacks, this is impossible to say, says Mangual.

The NYPD did not want to immediately release this information to the Post.

“You’re talking about potentially vulnerable populations in environments that are not so easy to monitor,” Mangual said. “These are very densely populated buildings… It’s happening behind closed doors. There’s probably a lot of fear.”

Rapes are also more common in areas where open-air prostitution flourishes.

In the 115th precinct in Queens, which includes East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, the number has increased by 50%, from 14 at this time in 2023 to 21 year to date.

And in the 110th precinct of Queens, where the notorious “Market of Sweethearts” is located on Roosevelt Avenue, there has been a 38 percent increase in rapes: there have been 22 cases so far this year, compared to 16 in the same period last year.

The New York Police Department said it takes all rapes seriously.

“The NYPD vigorously investigates every single rape report and will continue to work to bring justice to the survivors of these heinous crimes,” a department spokesman said.