The Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace on Thursday sought the dismissal of 188 misdemeanor convictions, going way back to 2001, that have been tied to the work of eight New York Police Division officers, sergeants and detectives who’ve since been discredited.

The transfer follows comparable actions by prosecutors throughout town in a sweeping effort to evaluate circumstances that relied on cops who have been convicted of official misconduct and different crimes associated to their work. In September, the Brooklyn prosecutor’s workplace introduced that it was looking for to dismiss 378 low-level felony convictions that relied on 13 former cops who have been convicted of crimes. Final yr, the Bronx district lawyer vacated 250 convictions that relied on a single officer who had been accused of mendacity in different circumstances. And that very same yr, the Queens district lawyer dismissed 60 such circumstances.

The opinions in Manhattan — which got here after public defenders and advocacy teams despatched letters to town’s 5 district attorneys final yr — scrutinized police testimony and investigations in circumstances going again a long time. The letters recognized 20 former cops who’ve been convicted of crimes and two who engaged in work-related misconduct. In Manhattan, the prosecutor’s workplace is reviewing over 1,100 convictions related to the officers.

The eight officers related to the vacated circumstances on Thursday “abused their positions of energy,” Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district lawyer, mentioned in a press release.

The previous officers have been convicted on an array of fees, together with perjury, promoting a managed substance and official misconduct, comparable to performing illegal searches. They acquired sentences starting from neighborhood service to jail time of as much as 15 and a half years.

“New Yorkers should know that everybody is appearing with the utmost integrity within the pursuit of equal justice underneath the regulation,” Mr. Bragg mentioned. “We can’t enable unconstitutional convictions to proceed to hinder the lives of New Yorkers.”

Over half of the circumstances dismissed in Manhattan, through which the arrests occurred between 2001 and 2016, resulted in fines or incarcerations. And the commonest fees have been for possession or sale of a managed substance, together with marijuana, and driving-related offenses — comparable to working a motorcar whereas impaired or with no license, in accordance with the prosecutor’s workplace.

Within the assertion, Mr. Bragg acknowledged that the implications for the convictions have been vital, saying “the stigma lasts a lifetime and prevents individuals from discovering a job, going again to highschool or securing housing.” Whereas nobody is presently incarcerated or nonetheless on probation primarily based on these convictions, in accordance with the prosecutor’s workplace, a majority of the circumstances concerned younger Black males. About 94 % of these convicted have been males, roughly 63 % have been 35 or youthful, and 53 % have been Black.

For these whose circumstances have been cleared on Thursday, the hardships they endured — together with incarceration, hefty authorized charges and severed entry to important advantages — ought to have by no means been allowed to occur, mentioned Elizabeth Felber, director of the Wrongful Conviction Unit on the Authorized Support Society.

Instances that relied on discredited officers needs to be reviewed regularly to reduce these impacts, Ms. Felber mentioned.

“The mandate to do justice should embrace evaluating felony conduct by regulation enforcement with the identical lens that’s used with each different New Yorker,” she added.

The Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace mentioned it vacated the convictions this week after its investigations discovered that the discredited officers performed a “substantial function” in the entire convictions.

One detective, Richard Corridor, who pleaded responsible in 2019 to fees associated to releasing an 18-year-old lady from custody in trade for sexual favors, was concerned in 31 of the circumstances dismissed on Thursday, in addition to dozens of circumstances listed for dismissal by the Brooklyn district lawyer’s workplace within the fall.

Mr. Corridor, together with one other detective, Edward Martins, confronted greater than 40 sexual abuse fees and 25 years in jail. After pleading responsible to bribery and official misconduct fees in a deal, they have been sentenced to 5 years of probation and no jail time.

One other detective, Michael Foder, who was tied to one of many circumstances vacated this week, was arrested in 2018 for federal perjury fees after prosecutors mentioned he had doctored a photograph lineup in a carjacking case.

One other 9 circumstances on the prosecutor’s checklist have been tied to Nicholas Mina, a former police officer who was arrested in 2012 for stealing weapons from his colleagues’ precinct lockers and promoting them, in addition to different fees. He was sentenced to fifteen and a half years in jail.

Final yr, the Brooklyn prosecutor’s workplace started reviewing circumstances that relied on a former narcotics detective, Joseph E. Franco, who was charged with a number of offenses in connection to his almost 20 years of undercover work, together with perjury, after he was accused of mendacity about drug gross sales that movies confirmed didn’t occur.

The Brooklyn district lawyer, Eric Gonzalez, then requested the court docket to dismiss 90 convictions that concerned Mr. Franco. Mr. Gonzalez mentioned on the time that his workplace might not stand behind convictions that relied on Mr. Franco’s testimony.