Staten Island Crime Rate

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – managed by Todd Spodek, a second-generation law firm with over 40 years of combined experience. Staten Island is New York City’s safest borough. Crime rate: 6.6 per 1,000 residents. That’s half the citywide average of 13.6. In 2024, Staten Island recorded just 3,453 crimes total – compare that to Brooklyn’s 30,753 or the Bronx’s 30,223. Staten Island represents only 2.5% of NYC’s total violent crimes despite housing nearly half a million people. So when you’re charged with a crime here, you’d expect prosecutors to recognize that Staten Island doesn’t have a crime crisis requiring aggressive enforcement, right?

Wrong. Prosecutors weaponize Staten Island’s safety. You threatened *the safest borough*. Residents here expect tranquility – your assault, your robbery, your drug possession disrupts that expectation. Where other boroughs cite high crime to justify harsh charging (“we need deterrence”), Staten Island prosecutors cite low crime to justify it (“we won’t tolerate threats to our safety”). At Spodek Law Group – we’ve seen this prosecutorial jujitsu repeatedly, turning Staten Island’s statistical safety into a rhetorical weapon against defendants who face charges that would barely register in the Bronx or Brooklyn.

The 129% Murder Increase Is Statistical Fraud

Headlines in fall 2023 screamed: “Staten Island murders up 129%!” Prosecutors love citing this number. Sounds terrifying. What they don’t mention – the baseline was so low that a 129% increase means going from, say, 7 murders to 16. In a borough of 490,000 people. The Bronx had over 100 murders in the same period. Brooklyn had similar numbers. But prosecutors charging you with murder in Staten Island won’t cite those comparisons, they’ll invoke the 129% increase as though Staten Island suddenly became a war zone requiring maximum sentences to restore order.

This is statistical malpractice. When baseline numbers are tiny, percentage increases are meaningless. A borough going from 2 rapes to 4 rapes shows a “100% increase” – sounds catastrophic until you realize we’re talking about 2 additional incidents across hundreds of thousands of people. Staten Island’s murder rate increased 46% since 2001. Again, scary percentage, but the absolute numbers remain dramatically lower than every other borough. Your defense can’t let prosecutors terrify juries with percentages divorced from context.

Rape Statistics and the 2024 Definition Change

Rape rates in Staten Island are up 7.9% since 2001. But September 2024 changed everything – New York’s “Rape is Rape Act” broadened the legal definition to include oral and anal sexual contact, conduct previously charged as criminal sexual act. When you compare 2025 rape statistics to pre-September 2024 numbers, you’re not measuring increased violence, you’re measuring expanded criminalization. More conduct qualifies as rape now than qualified a year ago. Prosecutors present rising rape statistics without acknowledging that the law changed what constitutes rape. That’s not evidence of increased danger – it’s evidence of legislative redefinition creating higher reported numbers for conduct that was always criminal, just under different statute names.

Safest Doesn’t Mean Lenient Prosecution

You’d think the safest borough would prosecute more leniently – after all, if Staten Island doesn’t have a crime crisis, why treat every defendant like a threat to public safety? But prosecutorial incentives don’t work that way. Elected district attorneys campaign on maintaining Staten Island’s safety. When crime is low, they claim credit and argue their aggressive enforcement keeps it that way. When crime ticks up (even slightly in absolute terms), they argue they need continued aggressive enforcement to prevent Staten Island from deteriorating into Bronx-level violence. Either direction, you lose.

Robbery rates dropped 17% since 2001 in Staten Island. Felony assaults rose 52%. What does this tell us? That prosecutors are charging more conduct as felony assault instead of misdemeanor assault, or that actual violence increased? When you’re charged with assault in Staten Island, prosecutors will cite the 52% increase without acknowledging that charging practices – not just defendant conduct – drive these numbers. If prosecutors today file felony assault charges for conduct that warranted misdemeanor assault charges in 2001, the statistics reflect prosecutorial aggression, not increased community danger.

The Suburban Paradox

Staten Island feels suburban compared to other boroughs – lower density, more single-family homes, car-dependent. This creates prosecution dynamics you don’t see in Brooklyn or Manhattan. DWI prosecutions are aggressive because everyone drives. Domestic violence cases receive intense scrutiny because suburban neighborhoods have tight-knit communities where everyone knows everyone’s business. Drug possession cases get prosecuted harshly because “we don’t have that problem here” – meaning any drug crime threatens Staten Island’s self-image as the clean, safe borough.

When you’re charged with DWI in Staten Island, prosecutors won’t offer the same plea bargains you’d get in Manhattan where most people take the subway. They argue Staten Island’s car culture makes drunk driving particularly dangerous, justifying maximum penalties. When you’re charged with domestic violence, expect neighbors to testify – not because they witnessed anything, but because suburban proximity means your arrest became neighborhood gossip. Privacy protections that exist in anonymous high-rises don’t exist when your driveway is 20 feet from your neighbor’s kitchen window.

What “Safest Borough” Actually Means for Your Defense

Staten Island accounts for 2.5% of NYC violent crime. If you’re part of that 2.5%, you’re not less guilty – but you are statistically unusual. Prosecutors use that rarity. They’ll tell juries that violent crime is so uncommon in Staten Island that when it happens, the community demands accountability. They’ll argue that lenient sentences would signal to other potential criminals that Staten Island is becoming permissive about violence.

Your defense requires flipping this narrative. Why is violent crime rare in Staten Island? Because the borough has different demographics (older, more homeowners, higher median income) that correlate with lower crime regardless of prosecution intensity. Prosecutors want credit for Staten Island’s safety. Fine – but that means they can’t also argue Staten Island faces a crime crisis requiring harsh sentences. Make them choose: either Staten Island is safe because their aggressive enforcement works (meaning your case doesn’t threaten that safety), or Staten Island is becoming dangerous (meaning their aggressive enforcement has failed and they should try different approaches like diversion or rehabilitation).

Todd Spodek’s representation of Anna Delvey involved similar prosecutorial contradiction – they wanted to portray her as both a brilliant con artist who fooled Manhattan’s elite AND a bumbling fraudster whose schemes were obviously fake. Spodek forced them to commit: which is it? Staten Island prosecutors want to claim both that the borough is safe (so they deserve credit) and that crime threatens safety (so they need harsh sentences). Don’t let them maintain both positions simultaneously.

Staten Island is statistically the safest place in New York City. That won’t make prosecutors treat you better when you’re charged – it gives them a different weapon. We’re available 24/7 to challenge prosecutors who weaponize safety statistics against defendants. Call us.