Social media users called out on Thursday the reaction that Democrat Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) had earlier in the day when he stood next to far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as she claimed that the solution to reducing violent crime was to stop building new prisons.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a press conference. “The answer is to make sure that we actually build more hospitals, we pay organizers, we get people mental health care and overall health care, employment, etc. It’s to support communities, not throw them away.”
Social media users called attention to Schumer’s response, or lack thereof, as AOC made the highly controversial remarks:
The Senate Majority Leader, a Democrat, stood next to AOC as she said we need to stop building jails and arguing against them. https://t.co/72F72TPLDL
— kaitlin, congressional fashion police (@thefactualprep) June 3, 2021
Why the hell did Chuck Schumer just stand there@and listen to this train wreck. https://t.co/rb2wmqr4mh
— Kambree (@KamVTV) June 4, 2021
Schumer is playing to AOC’s tune. Why is he even there? Does he actually buy into this nonsense or is he that terrified of a primary threat from the bartender? Saw this w/ his loathsome cowardice re: anti-Jewish violence during the Israel-Hamas fighting. What a loser. https://t.co/7H0hI1wAuY
— Boris Ryvkin (@BRyvkin) June 3, 2021
Wow, @SenSchumer did nothing as she said it. https://t.co/7A0G39wTrt
— Brooklyn Republicans (@KingsCountyGOP) June 4, 2021
Watch Chuck Schumer.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 4, 2021
The remarks from AOC come after the New York Police Department announced last month that crime statistics had skyrocketed for April 2021 compared to April 2020:
For the month of April 2021, overall index crime in New York City rose 30.4% compared with April 2020, driven by a 66% increase in grand larceny (2,659 v. 1,601) and a 35.6% increase in felony assault (1,630 v. 1,202). Robbery saw a 28.6% increase compared to April 2020 (885 v. 688), and shooting incidents increased to 149 v. 56 in April 2020 (+166.1%).
“Right here in the Bronx, our community developed a successful approach to reducing violence. It starts at the hospital after an incident. We bring in psych Drs & folks who turned their *own* lives around to work w/ youth. It’s reduced reoccurrence of violence by more than 50%,” AOC later claimed in a tweet. “It’s called Stand Up to Violence (SUV), a cutting edge program run out of @JacobiHosp (a PUBLIC hospital!), and it is hands down one of the most effective treatments we’ve seen to reduce incidents of violence like shootings and stabbings. I’m asking for fed resources to grow it.”
It’s called Stand Up to Violence (SUV), a cutting edge program run out of @JacobiHosp (a PUBLIC hospital!), and it is hands down one of the most effective treatments we‘ve seen to reduce incidents of violence like shootings and stabbings.
I’m asking for fed resources to grow it.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 3, 2021
Aside from Schumer’s reaction, many political commentators took issue with Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed solution for addressing violent crime.
“This is actually really wrong, many prisoners are overcrowded and antiquated, simply blocking the construction of new ones is inhumane,” progressive writer Zaid Jilani wrote. “And you can talk all you want about just having fewer prisoners but you aren’t going to get any significant drop overnight, everyone knows that.”
This is actually really wrong, many prisoners are overcrowded and antiquated, simply blocking the construction of new ones is inhumane. And you can talk all you want about just having fewer prisoners but you aren't going to get any significant drop overnight, everyone knows that. https://t.co/c8hSkBdaPT
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) June 3, 2021
“I am going to stop buying scales,” National Review Senior Writer David Harsanyi mocked. “It’s the only real way to lose weight.”
“She always brings up valid problems with literally the dumbest solutions imaginable,” another social media user wrote. “She never specifies how we will accomplish those goals, she just says that we need them and walks away. Implementing a support program via mental health is going to take a complete rewrite of the criminal justice system, and what about for-profit prisons?”
Another wrote: “Unless it’s Joe Biden, and the rest of her party’s leadership that is directly in front of her that she’s lecturing, this is toothless, mastubatory theater.”