Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued Thursday that authorities should stop building prisons and instead focus on underlying public health issues as New York City seeks to address a recent surge in violent crime.
New York Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, called on Congress to earmark $400,000 toward a program called “Stand Up To Violence,” which seeks to address gun violence through counseling and community outreach. Ocasio-Cortez said it was “not acceptable” to use jails as “garbage bins.”
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%. https://t.co/MMy3G18xhZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 3, 2021
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
“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. “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.”- READ MORE
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