Alvin Bragg calls for stricter New York rape law

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called for the closing of a legal loophole in New York that allows those charged with rape and other sex crimes to use a victim’s intoxication in their defense.

Lawmakers have repeatedly fallen short while attempting to nail up the escape hatch for at least the past five years. The New York State Senate passed a bill last month that would remove the defense in cases where the victim’s intoxication “was known or reasonably should have been known” by the accused.

However, the State Assembly version of Bill A1065A remains stalled just before the legislative body holds what is scheduled as its final day of the current session on Thursday.

Bragg, best known for his recent successful felony prosecution of former President Donald Trump, urged state lawmakers to quickly pass the bill in an option article published by City & State New York on Wednesday.

“It is not morally okay and it should not be legally permissible to have sex with someone who is so intoxicated that they cannot reasonably consent,” Bragg argues alongside co-writer Sonia Ossorio, New York City chapter president of the National Organization for Women (NOW-NYC).

“There should be consequences for that behavior,” the article continues. “If we are serious about protecting New Yorkers from sexual assault, we must update our laws to fit the reality of the crimes that are occurring … the Legislature has an obligation to act.”

Bragg and Ossorio go on to note that the new law “would bring New York’s law into line with 27 other jurisdictions that already criminalize sexual assault of individuals who are incapable of consent by reason of voluntary intoxication.”

They conclude the article by urging “the Assembly to join their Senate colleagues in passing this critical piece of legislation and finally correct this fundamental injustice.”

It is unclear whether State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, has any intention of bringing the bill forward for a vote on the final day of session.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Heastie’s office via email on Wednesday night.

Bragg is not the Empire State’s only prominent official with Trump ties to recently argue in favor of changing the sex crimes law. New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who won a civil fraud suit against the ex-president earlier this year, also called for the loophole to close last week in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

“There is no defense for rape and sexual assault, and victims of these terrible crimes deserve to see justice,” James wrote. “Period.”