Here’s why guys assaulting women on TikTok will probably get away with it [Video]

It’s all over TikTok: pretty, young women are getting punched in the face in seemingly random attacks on the streets of New York City. The latest incident occurred on Wednesday in Chelsea, leaving the 23-year-old victim with a broken nose. The “scraggly-haired menace” is still at large, but even if he’s taken into custody, don’t expect the punishment to last long.

Why is this happening? This is the story of how New York state partially decriminalized misdemeanor assault and now recirculates into communities individuals who used to be sent by a more robust criminal-justice system into mandatory, supervised mental-health and substance-abuse treatment.

In 2013, Manhattan arraigned 7,446 misdemeanor assaults, and of the cases they prosecuted, 2,833 (38% of cases) ended in convictions. But last year, with the arraigned assaults rising to 8,833 cases, convictions more than halved to 1,387 (only 16% of cases). 

Further, even defendants who are convicted are pleading to lesser charges with fewer consequences and a deceptively light criminal record. …