In 1990, New York City had 2,245 murders. People demanded that something be done, and over the ensuing years, the cops tried two things: the strategy called “Broken Windows” and the tactic called “Stop & Frisk.” While the strategy of the Rockefeller Drug laws had been an abysmal failure, ratcheting up sentences under the theory that they would eventually be so harsh that no rational person would risk going near drugs for fear of spending their lives in prison, there really aren’t all that many strategies around to address the phenomenon of crime.

Then something weird happened. Crime just faded. Crime rates dropped precipitously. The murder rate was at a tenth of what it was. The police claimed they were responsible for this miracle, but it was a lie. Broken Windows just ruined a lot of lives for petty quality of life offenses while Stop & Frisk, before it was held unconstitutional, was a spectacular failure both in its abuse of black and Hispanic young men and accomplishing almost nothing in terms of its sole justification, taking guns off the street.

Here we are, 2020, with the New York County District Attorney facing re-election problems in a job he was promised he could hold until he was 90, and an inexplicable spike in shooting and killings, although bizarrely not other crimes. Just as no one really knew why crime faded before, no one can explain why murders are spiking now. That doesn’t mean the usual cries of “something must be done” aren’t being heard, and so Cy replies with what he has. The problem is that he’s got nothing.

This summer, New York, like many other American cities, has been experiencing a daily barrage of gun violence not seen in recent years, while simultaneously seeking to contain an unprecedented pandemic and address centuries-old systemic racism. Faced with multiple crises, a broken windows revival that emphasizes “getting tough” to stop violence might seem an appealing solution to some commentators and officials.

This “solution” is not a solution at all.

While this bold statement, that Broken Windows isn’t a solution, is nothing new, Cy further notes two other “things” besides “gun violence.” There’s the “unprecedented pandemic,” which isn’t exactly a big secret but lacks any explanatory connection to anything else. Then there’s the “centuries-old systemic racism,” which doesn’t help the black people (and it’s almost all black people killing other black people) being shot and murdered. Since when was getting murdered the fix for “systemic racism,” whatever Cy means by it?

In recent years, as our city’s annual murder totals reached an all-time low, my office challenged broken windows orthodoxy by declining to prosecute low-level offenses such as marijuana possession, fare evasion and unlicensed vending that exacerbated the multi-generational harm caused by mass incarceration while serving little to no public safety purpose.

As a result of these policy changes, we cut prosecutions by 58% over the past decade, while violent crime plummeted. Meanwhile, thousands of New Yorkers who would have otherwise become entangled with the justice system — despite posing minimal threat to society — instead avoided collateral consequences such as ruined college, housing and job applications.

If you decline to prosecute conduct that the law makes criminal, prosecutions are likely to go down. Whether New Yorkers are cool with people smoking weed on the streets, hopping turnstiles while others pay for bad subway service and pay rent for stores while your competition stands outside selling the same unlicensed goods for half the price, is a choice. It’s not that the consequences of the tough-on-crime days are desired, but then, there were reasons why conduct was criminalized in the first place. Quality of life may be a terrible reason to ruin lives, but lack of quality of life is no great pleasure either. The law doesn’t have a magic way to stop people from behaving badly without doing its damage.

But if these aren’t solutions at all, what is?

To stop violence and facilitate healing, our city needs to invest directly in grassroots programs based in communities of color deeply harmed by police violence and unnecessary incarceration. Since 2016, our Office’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative has demonstrated how such a large-scale investment model can inspire positive change and healthier neighborhoods in the communities it serves. We have invested $250 million forfeited in our investigations against major banks in 50 community-grounded organizations, offering innovative education, health care and trauma-informed programs that support and empower youth, families, crime survivors, and New Yorkers coming out of jail and prison.

Yup, Cy went the woke route. It’s a theory, much like Broken Windows, that by “investing” in communities, another vague notion, we can raise up poor minorities and overcome the drivers of crime. And as theories go, it’s not a bad one, that may well bear fruit in time. Maybe five years, ten, if done smartly and not undermined by the dumbing down of education and ridiculing of nuclear families and their bougie values like hard work and thrift.

But tonight, someone may fire a gun and its bullet may find its way into a human body. We may not really know why it will happen. We may not want to admit that it runs counter to the narrative that black men can’t be held responsible for killing people. But how does any of this help the human body into which that bullet goes?

Cy isn’t wrong that Broken Windows was a failed approach. Cy isn’t wrong that Stop & Frisk was a racist travesty, where only black and brown kids above 110th were tossed against walls for no reason other than NYPD’s brutish and foul-mouthed cops felt like it. And Cy isn’t wrong that black people will be helped by investing in their communities to offer an alternative to a thug’s life.

But nobody has a clue what to do tonight to save that person’s life. Murders are spiking in New York City, and nobody knows why or what to do about it. Instead of trying to figure it out, we’re spewing Utopian dreams for the future and leaving tonight’s victim to die.