New York State Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher stood outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday and told reporters that stealing from stores should not be a crime — as long as the thief really, really needs the stuff. The Democratic Socialists of America member argued that shoplifting to meet a "biological need" is not something that should land anyone in jail.
So now larceny is a medical condition according to DSA members. Good to know.
Gallagher, who describes herself as a "neighborhood organizer," was appearing alongside Court Watch NYC when she offered this gem of legislative philosophy. "Most of what we saw were crimes of poverty — people who are stealing things like toothpaste, people who were stealing things like, you know, soap," she said. Then came the real thesis statement: "If you're stealing those things, you need them. And we are choosing to protect billion-dollar companies, like CVS and Walgreens, over the people who are struggling to get by."
That's the framing. CVS is the villain. The guy walking out with unpaid merchandise is the victim. The billion-dollar corporation is oppressing you by expecting you to pay for toothpaste.
But Gallagher wasn't done. She went on to declare that "the true crime is that there is such incredible wealth disparity in this city that there are people who can be thrown in jail simply for having a biological need." She then urged lawmakers to "pass things like treatment not jail and that we hold the line on the incredible criminal justice reforms that we have done over the last 10 and 20 years."
Biological need. That's the phrase an elected official chose. Not "difficult circumstance." Not "poverty." A biological need — as though stealing soap activates the same impulse as breathing or eating. The clip went viral within hours, and the mockery was immediate and bipartisan. As one social media user put it: "The entire foundation for a civilized society rests on private property, ownership, and not stealing."
Another pointed out the downstream consequence Gallagher apparently hasn't considered: "You know what else separates people from their jobs? Rampant shoplifting." Because when CVS locks up the toothpaste and then closes the store entirely — which has happened across New York City — the people who actually paid for things lose access too. The neighborhood Gallagher claims to be organizing gets worse, not better.
Reps. Claudia Tenney and Nicole Malliotakis, both New York Republicans, were among those who responded. The reaction wasn't complicated. When a sitting lawmaker publicly argues that theft isn't really theft if the thief is poor enough, there's not much nuance left to debate.
The "criminal justice reforms" Gallagher wants to protect are the same bail reform and decriminalization policies that turned New York retail into an open-air free-for-all. Stores have shuttered. Chains have pulled out of entire neighborhoods. Employees have been assaulted. But the assemblywoman from DSA looks at that wreckage and concludes the real problem is that we're still arresting people.
This is what happens when ideology replaces observation. The stores close. The jobs disappear. The neighborhood loses its pharmacy. And the lawmaker who helped cause it stands on the courthouse steps calling it progress.
Biology made them do it. The billion-dollar corporation made them need to. And the ten years of reform that emptied the stores? Those are the achievements we need to protect.
At some point, "biological need" is going to show up at Best Buy. And nobody's going to be able to explain why a 65-inch TV is a survival impulse — but by then, the argument won't need to make sense. It just needs a microphone and a DSA membership card.
