Democratic Candidate Dodges Question on Murderers if Prisons Abolished

Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic candidate for New York's 13th congressional district, declined to directly answer whether murderers should be confined if all jails and prisons were eliminated. The question arose during an interview with Vanity Fair when the reporter pressed Chevalier, a self-described democratic socialist and prison abolitionist, on the implications of her stance.

When asked if someone convicted of murder with intent should be physically confined to protect the public, Chevalier responded, "But that is what happens in the day-to-day." She added, "What I argue as someone who deeply cares about ending violence in our communities is that if we don’t begin the process now of building this world where we are proactive in preventing violence instead of reactive, once the violence has already happened, then we’re never going to get to that world."

The exchange occurred after the reporter noted a perceived contradiction between Chevalier's call for the apprehension of an ICE agent who shot an undocumented immigrant and her broader stance on prison abolition. The reporter specifically questioned where the shooter would go if not to jail.

Chevalier, who has Mayor Zohran Mamdani's endorsement, described abolition as a "process and vision." She elaborated that her focus is on "constructing a world where a shooting like that doesn’t happen to begin with." She further stated that abolishing ICE aims to remove the conditions that lead to such events, suggesting a need to disarm individuals and reinvest resources into community safety initiatives.

The specific incident that prompted the discussion involved Oscar Belgal, 28, who was shot by an ICE agent in the Bronx earlier this month. Following the shooting, Chevalier publicly called for the immigration official to be arrested.