George Gascón Implements Sweeping Changes To Los Angeles District Attorney's Office

[airdvr 210]

George Gascón Implements Sweeping Changes To Los Angeles District Attorney's Office

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-new-district-attorney-announces-sweeping-reforms-first-day-n1250317

 

While I agree with some of it there's plenty I think is a mistake.  The bail system and the death penalty to be sure.  The other parts are mearly decriminalizing criminal activity.  Good luck with that.

Oh, and nice mask.

[gowlerk 2,190]

6 minutes ago, airdvr said:

George Gascón Implements Sweeping Changes To Los Angeles District Attorney's Office

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/los-angeles-new-district-attorney-announces-sweeping-reforms-first-day-n1250317

 

While I agree with some of it there's plenty I think is a mistake.  The bail system and the death penalty to be sure.  The other parts are mearly decriminalizing criminal activity.  Good luck with that.

Oh, and nice mask.

Only about half of the states still have the death penalty on the books. And CA is likely to have a governor level moratorium on it for the foreseeable future. In general the US has far more people per capita in jails and prisons than anywhere else. Is this because there are more people doing crimes or is it because the system is overly aggressive? This is a real question I am asking your opinion on airdvr. Seriously, what is the cause of the huge prison population and the incarceration industry? Something is wrong somewhere.

[GeorgiaDon 362]

Just to be clear, are you saying that it is a mistake to no longer ask for cash bail in "misdemeanor, nonserious or non-violent felony cases"?

An astonishing number of people are held in jail because they cannot make bail.  As a result, they lose their job, housing, often their vehicle, custody of their kids, etc.  All over a misdemeanor or non-violent offense they have not (not yet, at least) been convicted of, offenses that often merit a fine rather than jail time.  This is a great way to trap people in a cycle of poverty.

Don

[airdvr 210]

Re-read my OP and I can see how it was a bit ambiguous.  I don't support the death penalty or the bail system.  I just don't think you should be announcing what you will and won't prosecute.

[gowlerk 2,190]

6 minutes ago, airdvr said:

Re-read my OP and I can see how it was a bit ambiguous.  I don't support the death penalty or the bail system.  I just don't think you should be announcing what you will and won't prosecute.

That completely changes the message of the post alright. I read the story and i don't see any announcement of non prosecution except possibly this sentence:

 Under his announced reforms, children will no longer be sent to adult court; low-level crimes associated with poverty, addiction, mental illness and homelessness will be diverted to health services; and his office will review cases in which lengthy prison terms were "inconsistent" with sentencing and charging policies.

It's hard to know exactly what this means, but I assume it is what you are concerned about. It also say this:

Prosecutors won't file sentencing enhancements — like California's "3 Strikes" law — that can send people to prison for far longer terms.

But that is not the same as not prosecuting. 

[GeorgiaDon 362]

1 hour ago, airdvr said:

Re-read my OP and I can see how it was a bit ambiguous.  I don't support the death penalty or the bail system.  I just don't think you should be announcing what you will and won't prosecute.

Thanks for the clarification.

I didn't see anything in the article about not prosecuting specific offenses.  I do think we over-criminalize a lot of things, but the appropriate response is to revise the law, not ignore it.  As far as sentencing is concerned, once upon a time judges were allowed to judge, taking the totality of circumstances into account.  That has been replaced to a large extent by mandatory sentences, legislated by politicians for political purposes ("tough on crime" campaigning advantages for example).

For an example of "over-criminalizing" I think we can look to the "war on drugs".  We could have opted to treat the problem as a medical issue (addiction) and as a poverty issue (few accessible alternatives for making a decent income).  I know it is more complicated than that, but those are major factors.  By dealing with drug problems only through the criminal justice system we built a prisonocracy that is horrendously expensive, so entrenched it is difficult to reduce in scope, have a larger share (by far) of our population in prison or parole than any other developed country, exacerbated racial problems (as these are highly correlated with issues of poverty), and contributed to generations of kids growing up without fathers (which makes everything worse). 

Unfortunately many of the needed reforms have been captured under the slogan "Defund the Police" which makes discussion of the issues highly political and a target for political attacks by the Republican party.  I live in Georgia and still have cable TV (in the process of getting rid of that) so I see all the commercials related to the runoff elections, and I can attest to the fact that any wiff of a suggestion that one penny be diverted from the police to any alternatives is used as a club to bludgeon Democrats.  I live in a rural county (not a neighbor of Ron though) and I assure you those commercials have a big effect on my white "working class" neighbors.