As he faces a recall effort, newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón joined KTLA Saturday to discuss the criticism he has faced over his criminal justice reforms.

Recall supporters, including victims rights advocates and law enforcement officials, claim that Gascón, who ran a progressive campaign to bring sweeping criminal justice reforms to the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office, has prioritized criminals over victims since taking office.

“We’re seeing a Republican effort, quite frankly, throughout the nation and certainly here in L.A. County, to basically want to change the results of any election,” Gascón said.

Asked about concerns over his reforms amid increasing crime in L.A. County, the district attorney said homicides have been on the rise since before he took office just a few months ago.

“The reality is crime has been going up, in fact, in L.A. County we had a 25% increase in violent crime over the last seven years because we continue to do the same things over and over again, expecting different results,” Gascón said. “What I am doing is, I am revamping the way that we address violence by using science, using data, taking a public health lens approach with the way that we deal with crime.”

This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on June 5, 2021.