In 1960, the U.S. violent crime rate started rising, and for three decades this was one of the most vexing and discussed problems in America.
By the early 1990s, policy makers had mostly lost hope. And then violent crime started falling. And it kept falling.
Meanwhile, the number of incarcerated Americans continued to climb.
It was the crime decline that made possible a bipartisan movement to reckon with the injustice of mass incarceration and the failure of the war on drugs.
But last year, the United States experienced the largest rise in homicides in decades, and violent crime rose particularly sharply in big cities, which could bring the return of tough-on-crime rhetoric and undermine the criminal justice reform movement.
Critics say a recently elected group of district attorneys in elite coastal cities, who are dismissing routine property crimes and failing to jail potentially dangerous individuals, are exacerbating the problem.
This backlash underscores why it's so important to distinguish between worthwhile criminal justice reform and simply failing to enforce the rule of law.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is among this new crop of progressive prosecutors. He was raised by two famous left-wing radicals of the 1960s, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, and his biological parents were imprisoned on felony murder charges when he was a baby, stemming from their involvement with the Weather Underground, a radical left militant organization.
Since Boudin took office in January 2020, burglary, arson, and murder have all spiked in San Francisco, though rape and assault rates have fallen, and most of his term has taken place during the COVID-19 pandemica time when life in the Bay Area has been far from normal.
Boudin is facing possible recall for failing to prosecute and jail a man accused of committing several burglaries and then drunkenly running over and killing two women, and a man twice accused of domestic abuse who then murdered an infant.
But can other progressive district attorneys strike a better balance as they reform the system?
"I think that the big lie was, basicallythat overincarceration, more police presence, and more prosecutions actually [were] leading to greater safety. When, in fact, it has probably led to greater insecurity," says George Gascn, who took office this year as Los Angeles County's new district attorney. He's a former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer and once held the same job as Boudin in San Francisco.
Gascn defeated the more conservative incumbent Jackie Lacey with his radical reform agenda, pledging to release up to 20,000 "low-risk" offenders. He immediately ended cash bail for misdemeanors and what he calls "low-level, nonserious crimes."
"We saw people that were being held in pretrial incarceration for weeks or months, simply because they couldn't afford a very low dollar a month to bail," says Gascn. "They were not necessarily dangerous. So the reality is, there is no connection between how much money you have in your bank account and whether you're dangerous or not."
Since taking office, Gascn has made good on his promise not to prosecute victimless crimes like low-level drug possession and sex work. But he's also declining to prosecute actual property crimes like trespassing.
"Data is continuing to flow, and more so recently, that shows that deemphasizing the criminal process when it comes to low-level nonviolent offenses, actually increases the safety in general, not just for those types of crimes, but even for more serious crimes," says Gascn.
But the property crime rate jumped nearly 40 percent during Gascn's almost nine-year tenure as San Francisco's D.A., a fact Gascn attributes to local police retaliating against him for co-authoring California's Prop 47, which reclassified many felonies as misdemeanors.
"A lot of cops said, you know, basically we're not going to enforce any of this stuff anymore. They were against [Prop 47]. They wanted to basically teach me a lesson," says Gascn.
But Gascn's critics in Los Angeles believe he's stripping law enforcement of the ability to keep the city safe.
"Quality of life crimes are not something that you want to prosecute on every instance, but you also don't want to have a blanket policy that prohibits you from ever prosecuting them as well," says Eric Siddall, vice president of the L.A. Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the prosecutors union that sued Gascn for directing the D.A.'s office not to pursue extra harsh sentences for repeat felons or for crimes involving gang members. A judge recently ruled partially in their favor.
Siddall says that the Los Angeles D.A.'s office has been making positive reforms for years and that Gascn is disregarding public safety
"There has to be a middle ground," says Siddall. "And I think that's what our office was trying to do prior to Mr. Gascn. But when you have a blanket policy that completely ignores quality-of-life crimes, then expect the quality of life to decrease in those neighborhoods."
Seven municipalities including the Beverly Hills, Whittier, and Pico Rivera city councils have issued votes of "no confidence" against Gascn. The L.A. sheriff has publicly supported a recall.
Siddall worries that stripping prosecutors of the ability to pursue harsher sentences against gang members will set back the decades-long effort to stem gang violence in a city once plagued by it.
"He basically destroyed most components of our office and our ability to effectively prosecute cases," says Siddall. "He pretty much dismantled [the gang prosecution unit] and redirected resources to other projects.So it's very clear from his policies, his words, and his actions that he is not terribly interested in dealing with violent criminals here in Los Angeles."
But in recent years, problems with L.A.'s gang database have emerged after LAPD officers were charged with fabricating gang affiliations of individuals they pulled over, forcing prosecutors to review hundreds of possibly tainted cases.
Gascnhas also opposed long prison sentences even for the perpetrators of violent crimes.
"Data indicates thatas we get older, there's a less likelihood that we're going to re-offend," says Gascn, who points out that California houses many senior citizen inmates at a great cost to taxpayers.
While it's true that people are less likely to commit crimes as they grow older, the data on the effectiveness of long sentences on deterring and preventing violent crime is mixed. One study of California's "three strikes" law found that the policy "significantly reduces felony arrest rates." Another study from the Public Policy Institute of California that examined the state's resentencing reforms, which saw the early release of thousands of inmates, found "little evidence of a relationship between more severe sanctions and better recidivism," partially bolstering Gascn's argument. The researchers unsurprisingly discovered a significant drop in drug re-offenders as the state deprioritized drug offenses but a slight rise in repeat offenders in more serious categories like crimes against persons.
"This data and science argument that he uses is baloney," says Siddall. "You're not going to have less crime by letting violent criminals out of prison. You're not going to have less crime by not punishing people appropriately. You're not going to have less crime by not penalizing someone from using a gun. You're not going to have less crime by basically saying, 'We're going to give a pass to the gangs.' That's just not going to work."
Despite his stated commitment to following the data, Gascn isn't immune to political pressure. He repealed his own order not to seek long sentences for criminals who victimize children or the elderly or commit hate crimes, claiming that because former President Donald Trump had so poisoned the country with hate, he had no choice.
"Enhancements and your larger periods of incarceration do not work, even for hate crimes," says Gascn. "HoweverI had a lot of people that came to me and say, 'You know, hate crimes are on the increase. And we are wary that given the posture of the national administration at the timethe message you're sending might be that hate crimes are OK.'"
While Boudin's time in San Francisco may test the limits of criminal justice reform, it's Gascn's tenure in one of the world's largest cities that could test the very concept of the progressive prosecutor: that social services can fix most or all urban dysfunction and that withholding police and prosecutorial resources can force the adoption of those alternatives.
While he faces resistance from law enforcement, city governments, his own team of prosecutors, and the legal system itself, Gascnremains committed to the idea that broad, systemic change is needed for safety and justice.
"We are a country that has increasingly become a country of have and have-nots," says Gascn. "The successful democracies in the world are the ones where you shrink thatdifference between those that have incredible wealth and those that do not.And in those societies, you see not only greater levels of security and public safety, but you see a greater level of satisfaction across the board, both for those that are affluent and those that are not."
Produced by Zach Weissmueller; opening graphics by Isaac Reese
Photo credits: Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.COM/Newscom; Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA/Newscom; Candice C. Cusic/MCT/Newscom; Jan Knapik/ Splash News/Newscom; Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Press/Newscom; J. Emilio Flores/La Opinion / La Opinion Photos/Newscom; Image of Sport/Newscom; Hans Gutknecht/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; JIM RUYMEN/UPI/Newscom; shealah_craighead/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Illustration: Lex Villena; Steve Rhodes, ID 24084034 Brandon Bourdages Dreamstime.com
See original here:
Will the Spike in Murder and Violence Undermine Criminal Justice Reform? - Reason
- Ipswich Man given suspended sentence for burglary offences - Suffolk Constabulary - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Miller: Hey, Steve Rogers take a hike with your cronies! - The Observer Online - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Crime in Prison Referral Agreement - GOV.UK - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Reducing public defender workloads across the nation | Behind the ... - Missoulian - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- The SIPT Judgement - Turks and Caicos Weekly News - September 29th, 2023 [September 29th, 2023]
- Two biotech CEOs charged with defrauding investors - UPI.com - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Most Free States 2022 - worldpopulationreview.com - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Economic and Social Effects of Crime | Encyclopedia.com - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- What are Some Examples of Victimless Crimes? - eLawTalk.com - November 5th, 2022 [November 5th, 2022]
- Want to save Metro? Dare to re-criminalize fare beating - Washington Examiner - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Police: Catalytic converter thefts on the rise | Police and Fire | kokomotribune.com - Kokomo Tribune - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Holy See: Human dignity should be at the core of crime policies' - vaticannews.va - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Why bike theft needs to be re-criminalised, urgently - CyclingWeekly - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Outrageous raging inflation, and the distortion of CPI - City A.M. - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Quickly: Readers sound off on the issues of the day - Chicago Tribune - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Fortnum and Mason 'gives up on police catching shoplifters' - The Telegraph - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Asylum, Migration And US Foreign Policy OpEd - Eurasia Review - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- The Victims of a Victimless Crime: The Future of Organized Retail Crime - Loss Prevention Magazine - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- 2 people identified as human trafficking victims in Polk County | wtsp.com - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Parents of fentanyl victims rally in San Francisco - CBS San Francisco - August 22nd, 2022 [August 22nd, 2022]
- Retail Industry Joins With Law Enforcement to Keep Communities Safe - CSNews Online - August 22nd, 2022 [August 22nd, 2022]
- The boots on the ground stomping out insurance fraud - ITIJ - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Shoplifting rises 21% year-on-year | Features and Analysis - Convenience Store - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Retail Theft a National Crisis: What Must be Done to Help Businesses and Consumers - ABC Action News Tampa Bay - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Sex offender caught with vile image hoard avoids prison term - The Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Top Sheffield judge highlights sickening treatment of children who are sexually abused for content shared online - The Star - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Resident Evil: Netflix's eight-part adaptation's very different from the movies - Stuff - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- The Consequences Of Justice Not Seen To Be Done: The Case Of Najib Razak Analysis - Eurasia Review - July 17th, 2022 [July 17th, 2022]
- Dad's weed grow 'to fund son's treatment' - Kent Online - July 13th, 2022 [July 13th, 2022]
- Reward to catch cable thieves as hundreds without internet - Kent Online - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Claim fraud on the rise: insurance firms hard-hit - Bizcommunity.com - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Smash-and-Grab Hits Calif. Macy's; NY Plans to Target Repeat Offenders - Sourcing Journal - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Human trafficking probe in Winnipeg nets three-year sentence | CTV News - CTV News Winnipeg - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- Guest opinion: Clarity amid confusion in the county attorney's race - Daily Herald - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Fraudster jailed after trying to scam taxpayer out of 70000 with bogus claims - Shropshire Star - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Hack Me If You Can, Part 1: The Making of a Russian Hacker - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts - The Wall Street Journal - June 15th, 2022 [June 15th, 2022]
- Crimes Against Morality: Definition & Examples - Study.com - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Britain's first police shoplifting squad catches twice as many thieves - The Telegraph - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Integrated assessment team to be involved in Narcotics Law revision - ANTARA English - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Soft Review: Young Black Men, Gently Pointed Toward Liberation - The New York Times - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Lubbock Woman Has Her Pot Stolen And Refuses To Call Police - KFMX-FM - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Teens held in spree of SF smash-and-grab thefts - KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Michael Moynihan: Why is it that noisy people show no consideration for others? - Irish Examiner - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Sheriff Marceno: "We are taking the streets back" in reference to narcotics investigations - FOX 4 News Fort Myers WFTX - June 5th, 2022 [June 5th, 2022]
- Opinion: Are we fooling ourselves to say we're a nation of laws? - Yakima Herald-Republic - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- He Owns This City: How Jon Bernthal Gave the Performance of the Year - Decider - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Guest Commentary: The Truth about Reisig - The Peoples Vanguard of Davis - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Matthew in the Middle | The war on drugs and crime - Eureka Times-Standard - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Police operation targets prostitution at Fishkill hotel - Mid Hudson News Website - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- California State Senate Public Safety Committee Votes 4-0 to Pass SB 1472: Ryan's Law - Redefines Gross Negligence to Include Driving Over 100 MPH,... - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- The Secret History of the War on Weed #1 - Multiversity Comics - April 25th, 2022 [April 25th, 2022]
- OPINION: Beware 'The Next Big Thing' - Daily Journal - April 22nd, 2022 [April 22nd, 2022]
- War has never been a reason not to replace a UK Prime Minister - The National - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- Method 4 How to make $1k-$3k without any carding ... - reddit - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- Meeting the challenge of organized retail crime - NRF News - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- Industry Perspectives Op-Ed: When contractors engage in tax fraud they are stealing from the rest of us - constructconnect.com - Daily Commercial News - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- A Woman's Take On the Men's Rights Movement | Hannah Cox - Foundation for Economic Education - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]
- Sunnyside caf hit by theft and damages in second incident - LiveWire Calgary - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Fuel thefts might be 'low-level' crimes but they aren't victimless - Daily Record - March 21st, 2022 [March 21st, 2022]
- The false fantasy of funding the police - TheGrio - March 21st, 2022 [March 21st, 2022]
- Pandemic Relief Fraud- A Focus And Priority For The Department Of Justice - JD Supra - March 21st, 2022 [March 21st, 2022]
- Taraji P. Henson Uses Emmett Till As An Example To Demand Jussie Smolletts Release From Prison - Majic 102.1 - March 21st, 2022 [March 21st, 2022]
- Eight arrested as Sheriff's Office conducts prostitution sting - Palm Coast Observer - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- The Rise Of Online Fraud: How To Stay Safe When iGaming - Euro Weekly News - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- Brutal double murderer and school worker paedophile among the men jailed in February - Grimsby Live - March 8th, 2022 [March 8th, 2022]
- House Bill 672 Fish and game, violations - Idaho Freedom - idahofreedom.org - February 24th, 2022 [February 24th, 2022]
- Drugs and 150,000 illegal cigarettes found stashed behind wall in Hessle Road - Hull Live - February 24th, 2022 [February 24th, 2022]
- A RI city and judge start new approach for petty offenses driven by addiction. Here's why - The Providence Journal - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Police slap down suggestion they should 'focus on real crime' after cannabis bust in Coalville - Leicestershire Live - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Netflix's 'Inventing Anna' and the 'girlboss-ification' of Anna Delvey - MSNBC - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Bus lane fines rocket by more than 60 per cent in a year in Edinburgh as number cameras shot up during lockdown - Edinburgh News - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Two men involved in laundering 15 million have been sentenced to a total of 12 years in jail UKNIP - UK News in Pictures - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Judge in warning to people who view child abuse images as he jails dad who downloaded hundreds of vile pictures - The Star - February 11th, 2022 [February 11th, 2022]
- Tacarre Harper, Alleged Leader Of Smash-And-Grab Burglars That Targeted Stores On Mag Mile And Around City, Arrested And Charged - CBS Chicago - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- What Homeland Security Will Be on Prowl for at Super Bowl - Newsweek - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- Republicans Call For Tougher Penalties For Car Thefts, Hit-And-Runs - NBC Connecticut - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- Gov. Bill Lee plays politics by failing to mention Tennessee's 22,000 COVID dead | Opinion - Tennessean - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- Guelph police investigated almost 200 vehicle thefts in 2021 - GuelphToday - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- How Do We Reconcile the Olympics and China's Human Rights Crisis? - Bleacher Report - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- Car enthusiasts speak out about reckless driving as new bill is proposed to rev up penalties | News Channel 3-12 - KEYT - February 1st, 2022 [February 1st, 2022]