WATCH: Former Atlanta mayor smacks down Mitch McConnell adviser for suggesting Democrats are soft on crime
On CNN Monday, longtime Mitch McConnell strategist Scott Jennings suggested Democrats have pursued criminal justice policy that is soft on crime — but former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was quick to respond.
"Republicans, I think, are going to use the crime issue in this midterm election," said Jennings. "You're going to see Republicans point to Democrat-run cities where violent crime is up ... where you have New York City and the prosecutor and the mayor, frankly, who are endorsing decriminalizing actions, and Joe Biden said, I would like to see others follow the New York City lead, you're going to see this in the context."
But Bottoms reminded Jennings of a key detail he was leaving out.
"When you look at policies, when you look at some of the 'decriminalization' efforts, they centered on nonviolent offenders, nonviolent crimes," said Bottoms. "People, leaders in cities and states across America, are still very focused on addressing violent crime. But again, you have to look at it as a whole. It is the reason, in Atlanta specifically, that we took money from the American Rescue funds to put it towards ballots intervention work. Because you are either going to pay on the front end or you're going to pay on the back end."
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"I sat as a judge for many years," continued Bottoms. "And what I saw, I saw many times people came into court, they didn't have an education, they didn't have jobs, they didn't have access to mental health treatment, drug treatment, et cetera. So we have to make those important investments in those systemic areas while also focusing on getting violent offenders off of our streets, keeping them incarcerated once they get into court. I don't think that is a partisan issue. We all agree on that."
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