Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed concerns about rising violent crime rates are unnecessary “hysteria.”
“We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases,” she said during a conversation with Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., this weekend.
“Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn’t drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context,” she added.
WATCH: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls the concerns over the spike in crime “hysteria.” pic.twitter.com/NYZngpp7ff
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) June 27, 2021
Violent crime has spiked significantly across America’s major cities over the past year, which Republicans have argued is a result of leftist efforts to defund police departments and lower penalties for non-violent crimes.
New York City, for example, has experienced a 53% increase in shootings and murders have increased 13%, according to the latest New York Police Department data.
However, Ocasio-Cortez has claimed the only way to stop violent crime is to stop building prisons and start investing in social services instead of more law enforcement.
“If we want to reduce violent crime, if we want to reduce the number of people in our jails, the answer is to stop building more of them,” she said. “The answer is to make sure that we actually build more hospitals, we pay organizers, we get people mental healthcare, and overall healthcare, employment, etc. It’s to support communities, not throw them away.”
Conservatives slammed Ocasio-Cortez for minimizing the spike in crime and its victims:
The biggest spike in violent crime since the United States started keeping records is not “hysteria,” it’s real and so are its victims. This is shameful. https://t.co/zZIceS24tD
— Christopher Bedford (@CBedfordDC) June 28, 2021
Until a vagrant breaks into her Tesla or a mob ransacks her Whole Foods, AOC will advocate for policies that mean thousands of *other* people will be victimized by emboldened criminals https://t.co/o7Gp7X3xj3
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) June 28, 2021
AOC is mocking ordinary people as “hysterical” who are afraid of violent crime in their neighborhood: people who, unlike her, don’t have reams of private security.
Yet she just acted to ensure $2 billion more in spending on the police that protects her: https://t.co/Kc1BDwd5O2
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 27, 2021
