On Monday, as I watched the House Judiciary Committee convene its field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, NC, it all came rushing back.

In April 2023, I testified before that same committee here in New York, in a hearing made necessary by the disastrous progressive policies implemented by a George Soros-funded district attorney and the state’s “soft-on-crime” laws.

I spoke both as a survivor of homicide — the love of my life was murdered decades ago — and as an advocate who has worked alongside countless other victims of violent crime ever since.

My words were not about politics, but about life and death.

Two years later, House members convened in Charlotte for the very same reason, in the wake of the horrific light-rail slaying of Iryna Zarutska.

Families shattered by murder and violent crime came to share their stories. Their words were gut-wrenching, their pain undeniable.

Yet just as we saw in New York, House Democrats in Charlotte did not come to listen with empathy or humility.

They came armed with talking points and political spin, determined to discredit grieving parents and loved ones, and to invalidate the raw truth of what these families endure every single day.

What we saw was grotesque.

Democratic committee members said, in essence: “My heart goes out to you, but crime is down, so your child doesn’t matter.”

They mispronounced victims’ names while pretending to care.

They cloaked indifference in “sympathy” while actively minimizing the horror.

It is not only dishonest — it is cruel.

It is gaslighting grieving families, and it must end.

Yet the same nightmare continues to play out in city after city, state after state.

Democrats’ response is always the same: hollow platitudes, followed by an avalanche of excuses.

Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) — the committee member who took flak for slighting victims’ families Monday — and others cling to bloated programs that do not work.

They funnel taxpayer dollars into ineffective nonprofits that are disguised as help for criminals, addicts and the mentally ill, but serve more as political slush funds than life-saving institutions.

They elevate so-called “violence interrupters” — in practice, taxpayer-funded street gangs who control corners, massage statistics and claim progress where none exists.

This isn’t reform, but corruption dressed up as compassion.

And while they continue their charade, our loved ones are slaughtered. 

Let’s be clear: Crime has not declined.

A summons instead of an arrest does not mean the crime didn’t happen, and a dismissed case doesn’t mean a family didn’t bury their child.

Manipulating numbers to protect ideology doesn’t erase the dead — it only erases their dignity.

Logan Federico, Mary Collins, Iryna Zarutska, the list goes on. Do their lives not matter?

Consider what these families brought into that hearing room.

Steve Federico broke down as he described his daughter Logan being dragged out of bed, naked, shot in the head — perhaps praying in her final moments that her father, her hero, would burst in to save her.

How could any human being listen to that man and then dismiss him with a talking point?

How could anyone look into his eyes and say, “We’re sorry for your loss, but our programs are working”?

Or listen to Mia Alderman, who recounted the torture her special-needs granddaughter endured before her killers tried to burn her body.

She wondered aloud if Mary was cold, if she needed a blanket, if she cried out for comfort that never came.

That image should shatter the arrogance of every politician who dares claim that “criminal justice reforms” are working.

The bottom line is this: These policies are not compassionate — they are deadly.

They protect ideology, not people. They excuse criminals while burying victims.

And as long as lawmakers keep lying to survivors, as long as they pretend that homicide is a statistic and not a shattered family, the blood will remain on their hands.

We do not need more platitudes. We do not need more political theater.

We need accountability, honesty and change.

Because as we saw up close during Monday’s hearing, behind every “number” is a name — and behind every name is a family still screaming into the void for justice.

Democrats should not be saying “Crime is down,” or “Our programs just need more time,” or “Sorry for your loss, but…”

What they should be saying is simple: We are sorry. We failed.

People are dying. And that is enough to admit we must change course.

Anything less is complicity.

Jennifer Harrison is executive director of the Victims’ Rights Reform Council and founder of Victims Rights NY.