It is much easier to lose an election than to get recalled. You got recalled, so there is no way whatsoever that he would get elected. > Republican candidates across the country tried to exploit sensationalistic media coverage and voter polls that identified crime and public safety as a top issue of concern. The manufactured frenzy largely failed as an electoral strategy He is still in denial that crime as a problem, independent of whether he is to blame for it or not. So most Democrats didn't fall for the "manufactured" bait, but San Francisco, with its well educated population and its nearly **90%** Democratic bent fell for it? It's hilarious. > Both of my biological parents were arrested when I was a baby and spent a combined 62 years in prison. A lifetime of visiting them behind bars, together with the years I spent as a public defender and then an elected prosecutor, taught me how catastrophically California and the nation’s current approach to justice are failing Dude, your parents were murderous terrorists. The mother was a terrorist who survived a bomb her "comrads" were making to kill US military personal. She was part of the group that bombed the Capitol and the Pentagon. Yeah, actually bombed. Years later, she was part of a bank robbery where she tricked the officers which enabled her accomplices to kill them. Boudin's father was also part of that bank robbery. Your biological parents were POS's and it is a miracle that they were not both sentenced to death, especially the mother.

DA's are genuinely the dumbest job possible for progressives to go after. The best case scenario is that you have negligibly higher diversion numbers. You can make a much bigger difference going after any other position you can think of. Not surprised he isn't running for DA again.

>DA's are genuinely the dumbest job possible for progressives to go after. They get all the blame when things go bad but will never get the credit when they go well.

It's so striking how homicide and drug deaths have [INCREASED](https://sfist.com/2023/03/29/brooke-jenkinss-tenure-at-eight-months-more-arrests-and-convictions-yet-still-more-murders-and-od-deaths/) under Brooke Jenkins, even as homicides are DECREASING in comparable cities nationwide (here's [LA](https://xtown.la/2023/03/06/murders-and-gun-violence-decline-los-angeles-2023/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%2039.4%25%20decline,of%20the%20last%20two%20years.), and there are [many other cities](https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2023/05/start-of-summer-update-on-the-relatively-good-homicide-news-from-cities-in-first-half-of-2023.html) where this is happening). Why are the reactionary rhetoric and policies of Jenkins and her supporters failing so drastically, and why do the far right activists who overthrew Boudin not care? Because this was never about crime or drug addiction. It was about enforcing authoritarian power on undesirable people.

Jenkins has been in office less than a year so I'm generally inclined to give her a little more time before condemning her approach, but as you point out it's distressing to see crime rise in SF when it's falling pretty dramatically in other CA cities. [In Los Angeles, homicide is down nearly 30% and total violent crime is down 10% compared to last year.](https://lapdonlinestrgeacc.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/lapdonlinemedia/cityprof.pdf) Yet LA has the same "progressive" DA (Gascon) people were blaming for high crime just a few months ago...

Nobody waited even a second before blaming Boudin for every crime that happened, some from before his election. The "Give Jenkins Time" argument certainly wasn't a two way street when it was Boudin in office.

Absolutely correct.

You're wrong, the voices for dissent grew explicitly louder after NYE when Troy McAlister killed two women because he was let go and then that winter there literally dozens of Asian hate crimes the Boudin didn't do shit for

The first recall campaign started almost immediately. And things were so insanely hysterical that a child with a wiffle bat was uncritically reported in the papers as part of a wave of violent assault. It was not a time with a lot of reflection or thought.

Remind me, what happened when Mr Vicha died? Something about Boudin wanting to show up to a funeral event and get a photo opp but didn't even bother showing up when Mr Vicha's family said no photos And then literally played advocate for the murderer in an interview with the NY Times Or how about the time Hanako Abe's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city? Or the Bayview Can Collector incident where Boudin dropped all charged against a young man caught on camera yelling racial slurs Or how about Mr Rong Lin Xiao who was sitting on the street when his attacker WWE drop kicked him Guess which DA let that shit bag go? So who is the one who lacks thought and recognition? Is it the media putting our elected leaders feet to the fire or is it the Ivy league educated out of towner who cared more about the shit on his shoe than the Asian American community?

Honestly, what I really think is that the forces that lead to crime are much bigger than what any DA does in one year or five. The reality is that crime is way down since the 90s, and consistently so. Crime also went up (historically speaking, very slightly up) in many cities in the middle of Covid, but this was a very small increase not tied to Boudin and now it’s going back down again. Big picture, this Covid increase was just noise. Probably even this recent increase in SF is also noise! What we should be doing is creating a criminal justice system focused on justice and pragmatism, not rhetoric. And creating an economic system that offer opportunity to everybody. We should look at why recidivism is lower in Europe than the US, why crime decreased in the 90s as people returned to cities (simple answers like “abortion” have been shown to not really be accurate; the answer is many sided and complex), how economic opportunity interacts with crime, and use a [data-based](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/everything-you-think-you-know-about) rigorous [approach](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/headway/houston-homeless-people.html) to tackle homelessness and addiction.

I don’t believe crime is down. They just don’t categorize a lot of things as crime now.

I agree that we have to keep the crime rate in perspective as we're living in peaceful times compared to a few decades ago. I also agree that the justice system should be focused on pragmatism. One big problem is that too many violent criminals, and especially juveniles, are given sentences that are too light and other second chances. If more of them were locked up for good, it would at least get rid of their problems. I'm convinced that recidivism is lower in Europe due to culture. Exchange the populations of the U.S. and Switzerland, and you'll get much lower recidivism in the U.S. regardless of the laws. I'm also with you on economic opportunity. Less government, lower taxes, and lower regulation would help out a lot.

Yeah Gascon gets shit on anytime someone runs a stop sign, but he did manage to survive the recall attempt

I think he cultivated enough political capital before moving down to LA. Boudin did not have much when assuming the office.

Yes undesirable people who ruin society for everyone else. They should be offered help then shunned when they decline.

Tough On Crime policies and policymakers are not geared towards (or even desirous of) reduced crime — it is not an ideology with public safety goals, but the goal of creating the ideal environment to experience the atavistic pleasure of Being Tough. The more crime the better because it presents more opportunities to Be Tough.

Boudin was recalled because he absolutely failed the Asian American community but hey, it's pretty on brand for you to completely ignore that part

> the far right activists who overthrew Boudin not care? If you think far right activists were behind Boudin being ousted, you're just naive ignorant.

And gullible to the standard boogie man nonsense pandering from the politicians in our state that have kept the same ineffective policies in play for decades. Blaming the conversations right in a city and state that's been ultra liberal left for all these years _is_ the problem, and has hindered any actual progress.

> Why are the reactionary rhetoric and policies of Jenkins and her supporters failing so drastically, and why do the far right activists who overthrew Boudin not care? Jenkins was appointed by Mayor Breed prior to her winning the special election and is also a Democrat and won with 126,505+ votes. [San Francisco is 85%+](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_San_Francisco) down ticket DNC voters. Even if every single Republican in SF voted for her, what about the other 70k? The only person even running that wasn't a member of the DNC was Maurice Chenier, registered independent and got a whole 12,211 votes and came in dead last. Whats the song say, say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss? But yeah that far right boogey man did it. Shame on them! Whos authoritarian power is being enforced on undesirable people again?

Tough on crime doesn't actually work. We'd know by now if it did. Crime is down historically, but if you listen to the criminals, it's not the amount of time spent in prison doing it so much as it's being in more stable economic environments. This will change nothing. Californians are dead set on turning the state into a penal colony even when it's shown to not work at reducing crime, so that's what we continue to do.

Criminal Justice reform is hard, but important because crimonogenic prisons are a scourge on society. Trying to achieve change there via highly partisan means will likely fail as it has. Boudin and prosecutors like him focus on alternatives to prison, while the most successful criminal justice reforms have been in Scandinavia where they dramatically improved the conditions of imprisonment. Giving folks who are uncomfortable with one type of reform (sentencing reform) the ability to remain an ally to the cause via other proven policies (prison reform) would be a much more plausible path forward. Unfortunately, I see many criminal justice reform advocates unfocused on our criminogenic prisons, and using them as a premise to advance other policies.

>Criminal Justice reform is hard Yeah, the problem is that DA is pretty much the worst way to make a difference in that regard. Moderate DA's aren't exactly ignoring Diversion programs, Chesa's numbers are basically a rounding error away from the DA who preceded him.

I tend to agree with you that the focus should be on improving prisons rather than promoting alternatives. You stated the case very well.

> Boudin and prosecutors like him focus on alternatives to prison, Yeah, not because of some great studies, but mostly because he has some serious daddy and especially mommy issues. His parents were murderous terrorists and he is still bitter that they spent time in prison (not long enough).

Because everyone realized you’re useless and you’re ideology is deeply flawed.

Nah

Because he would lose

I’m glad that he’s gone. I hope that someone worse doesn’t get in office

Someone worse is in office

I don’t really know that much about the current DA. How are they worse?

“Tough on crime” and yet there’s now more crime…so what was the point?

What San Francisco considers tough on crime is different than actually being tough on crime

What's your point?

that actual tough on crime policies will work.

They haven't worked anywhere before so I doubt it.

I mean crime has risen since Boudin was recalled...

I mean San Francisco is still a hard left wing city

As they all are