Four years ago, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was swept into office amid a nationwide call for criminal justice reform. In L.A., thousands of people had taken to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd. The mass incarceration of mostly Black and brown men was a hot topic.
Gascón wasted no time.
On the day he was sworn in, he introduced a broad set of directives that would turn the district attorney’s office upside down.
Prosecutors would no longer be allowed to seek the transfer of juveniles to adult court, no matter how serious the crime. They could no longer seek sentencing enhancements, which let prosecutors add many more years to someone’s potential sentence for things like carrying a gun or acting on behalf of a gang. Prosecutors could no longer file charges for certain low level misdemeanors. And they could no longer seek the death penalty.
“I felt a tremendous sense of urgency,” Gascón recently told LAist.
The backlash was immediate.
Three weeks after Gascón took office, the union representing L.A. County prosecutors filed a lawsuit seeking to block some of his directives.
Within months, a small group of victims rights activists launched the first of two recall campaigns against Gascón, arguing he didn’t care about victims. Fox News pilloried him.
Now, Gascón, a darling of the criminal justice reform movement, is seeking a second four-year term. But the political conversation has changed from a focus on reform to public safety.
He faces a strong challenge from Nathan Hochman, a well-polished former federal prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney who has promised to reverse all of Gascón’s…
Read the full article here
