CNN’s Van Jones has been lambasted for saying that the madman who killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was “hurting” when he carried out his unspeakable crime.
Reacting to the brutal killing of the 23-year-old on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, the political commentator attempted to explain the actions of suspect Decarlos Brown Jr., saying that “hurt people hurt people” during his appearance on Monday night’s “CNN Newsnight.”
“We don’t know why that man did what he did,” Jones said, following the announcement of federal charges against Brown, a career criminal who had been arrested no fewer than 13 times in the past.
He also played down the significance of cashless bail, after it emerged Brown had been set free earlier this year.
“It’s not about cashless bail or no cashless bail, it’s about the fact that we don’t know how to deal with people who are hurting in the way this man was hurting,” Jones said. “Hurt people hurt people.”
His remarks sparked outrage from across the political spectrum, with even many liberals denouncing his attempts to empathize with a killer.
“I don’t really care if he [Brown] was ‘hurting’ when he did that. Literally nobody cares. There is no level of ‘hurt’ that ever justifies randomly stabbing people to death on trains. This is just suicidal levels of empathy,” said one X user, resharing the clip of Jones’ speech.
“It’s true that people who commit serious crimes are often suffering. Who cares! The rest of society comes first. The priority is keeping them away from the rest of us, not their inner life,” wrote political commentator Richard Hanania on X.
“These images should spur reform. They should galvanize politicians to deal with the serial offenders in our midst. There is a need for systemic change,” New York Times columnist David French wrote on X.
Follow the latest on the shocking murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte:
Van Jones did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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