![CNN's Jake Tapper pushed back against a Washington D.C. councilwoman Monday after she tried to defend a city crime reform bill that would reduce penalties for certain crimes. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-06-at-5.34.16-PM-e1678142126983.png "CNN's Jake Tapper pushed back against a Washington D.C. councilwoman Monday after she tried to defend a city crime reform bill that would reduce penalties for certain crimes. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN’s Jake Tapper pushed back against a Washington D.C. councilwoman on Monday after she tried to defend a city crime reform bill that would have reduced penalties for certain crimes.
The D.C. Council passed the crime bill in November, but Mayor Muriel Bowser vetoed it, prompting the council to overrule the veto. House Republicans then introduced a resolution to override the bill, with President Joe Biden and a handful of Democrats supporting Republican-led efforts.
The legislation would reduce penalties for crimes such as burglaries and carjackings.
Crime is up in the nation’s capitol, with homicides up 37% from last year while car thefts are up 111% and property crimes up 32% from the same time frame.
Tapper first asked for her initial reaction. Janeese Lewis George answered that the fundamental issue is “about preserving our local democracy and self-government.”
“We have 700,000 D.C. residents in the city who deserve the right to make their own laws like Americans in every single state in the union,” George said.
Tapper said he understood the “home rule” argument but asked whether the crime bill “help[ed] the cause of home rule.”
“Because it seems to be signaling to a lot of people that the city council, the D.C. council is passing a while lot of legislation that might make the city less safe. That is what we’re hearing from the 31 House Democrats and that is the suggestion we’re hearing from Democrats in the Senate and President Biden as well,” he continued.
George said Republicans in Congress were being “disingenuous” in their presentation of the bill and argued that the current code “makes it harder for judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors to enforce the law.”
“We need a clear, consistent evidence-based criminal code that allows us to uphold the law, hold people accountable and make our city more just and more safe for everyone, and that is what the criminal code revision was all about,” she argued. “In no way are we seeking to make our community less safe at all.”
“I’m not holding up Speaker McCarthy as some exemplar of facts and truth, but as a matter of fact, carjackings went up for a fifth straight year and this legislation would lessen the penalties for carjacking,” Tapper pressed. “It wouldn’t decriminalize it, but this is as crime is rising in D.C. Don’t the people of D.C. need a council focused on protecting them and not making it easier for carjackers to get back on the street? This is an inherently violent crime.” (RELATED: Rep. Byron Donalds Defends Biden’s Reversal On DC Crime Law)
George the conceded that the city is experiencing a surge in crime but said, “we have decades of data showing that long sentences do not deter crime.”
“What actually deters crime is the likelihood that someone will be caught and prosecuted, not the lengthy sentence.”
George then argued that Congress should address the roots of crime and said ending poverty should be a priority along with stronger gun control.
Biden said while he supports “D.C. Statehood and home-rule” he does not “support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections – such as lowering penalties for carjackings.”