Los Angeles Township Atty. Georges Gascón’s election defeat is yet another reminder that despite what we in progressive states want (criminal justice reform), our policies don’t matter. emotions Crime and safety influence our decisions at the polls.
It was unfortunate that Gascón lost to former federal prosecutor Nathan Hockman, who ran for California attorney general as a Republican in 2022 and promised to undo most of Gascón’s reforms. But I wasn’t surprised.
“Two months after Gascon won, some people were calling and asking, ‘Why is crime going up?’ He hadn’t even been in office yet,” civil rights attorney Connie Rice said. told me on Thursday. “That’s unreasonable, and they blamed him for the coronavirus policies that the higher courts had put in place to exclude low-level criminals.” [from jail]”
If Mr. Gascón had moved more slowly, explained himself more clearly, and allayed the fears of his critics, I think he might have had a successful tenure.
But he moved too quickly, announcing clemency and eliminating cash bail on his first day in office, smashing too much furniture and destroying the very people he needed to persuade: his own It alienated prosecutors.
“He was trying to end the extremes of mass incarceration, but he didn’t talk about those extremes,” Rice said. “He didn’t come in and say, ‘Anyone who needs to be charged with a violent third strike will be charged, but what I’m going to do is let the young people get away with the crime. Stop admitting it and trying to get him sent to prison.’
In some ways, Gascón made the same mistake that President-elect Donald Trump is making now. That is, he assumed that voters had given him an absolute mandate to disrupt the status quo and that they would stand by him when the going got tough.
Los Angeles County voters chose Gascón months after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer and Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation.
Sentiment about systemic racism and disproportionate punishment was growing, and the reformist tide that led Chesa Boudin to become San Francisco district attorney in 2019, followed by Gascón as Los Angeles county attorney, was growing.
Boudin lasted only two years before being recalled. Gascon survived two recall attempts, but both ultimately cost him. voters’ perceptions of crime; It’s not reality.
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald, who produced and directed the 2023 documentary about Boudin, “Beyond Bars,” said, “Mr. Gascon, like Mr. Chesa and others, was deeply motivated by justice and righting injustice.” ” he said. “They weren’t dedicated or skilled at communicating the message of what they were doing, how they were doing it, and why it would keep people safe. They acted as quickly as possible, not as carefully as possible, driven by a moral compass rather than political calculation.
The hostility I heard toward Gascón from many neighbors was the same kind of anger I heard toward former Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin. Mike Bonin couldn’t forgive himself for treating his “unhoused neighbors” as his own voters.
The proliferation of homeless encampments throughout the city, especially Venice, during the pandemic, and Bonin’s principled position that housing is the solution to homelessness, were a bummer for voters who just wanted an end to the chaos. It was too heavy.
“His changes weren’t that radical,” Rice said of Gascón. “I thought he could have made some allies and explained things to the public at a more measured pace. When push-and-robbers target wealthy people, the panic goes through the roof.”
The results of the Los Angeles County District Attorney race are a perfect example of how California voters oscillate between extremes on criminal justice issues.
In 1994, California voters enacted a misguided law known colloquially as “three strikes and you’re out,” meaning that anyone convicted of a felony or a felon with two violent convictions It carried a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
As a result, Mr. Rice, a man with two prior convictions for check kite fraud who stole a box of Morton’s Steaks, and six Disney tapes to visit his daughter at a Motel 6 to get something. He said the man who stole it was sentenced to life in prison. With her and to keep an eye on the man who stole her bike keys.
Perhaps the most famous example of this law backfiring was the ridiculous 25-year life sentence given to a man who stole pepperoni pizza slices from several children near a Redondo Beach pier.
Eighteen years later, in 2012, voters passed Proposition 36, which relaxed the law and required all three strikes to be serious or violent.
In 2014, voters passed Proposition 47, a sentencing reform bill aimed at reducing the number of inmates in California’s dangerously overcrowded prisons. decreased 6 nonviolent crimes From felonies to misdemeanors, including drug possession and theft under $950. Although state data shows; No significant increase Police are less likely to make an arrest for shoplifting and theft reports overall. this is police problemsit’s not a matter of prosecution, but voters clearly didn’t see it that way.
This month, the backlash against Prop. 47 achieved a victory when voters passed a new Prop. 36 that toughens penalties for some drug and property crimes. Critics of this bill, and I believe them, argue that it could drive up state prison costs, cut funding for behavioral health, and increase homelessness. .
So here we are. Conflicting feelings about crime and safety and fairness take us two steps forward and one step back.
We want to correct the terrible policies that lead to mass incarceration, but we are appalled that our local pharmacies are locking up safety razors and deodorant. And embarrassingly, we can’t decide which is worse.
Blue Sky: @rabcarian.blsky.social
