LA County DA George Gascon says prosecutorial policies based on 'science' amid renewed criticism

[buh buh biden]

The office of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said its
progressive policies that have come under fire and have since become the
catalyst for a do-over recall attempt are based on science and research
data.

Gascon tweeted a link Wednesday to research posted on the Los Angeles
County's District Attorney's website that outlined the reasoning behind
his criminal justice reforms. The research webpage has been live since
last year but the reminder comes amid growing skepticism and backlash from
his own prosecutors, law enforcement leaders and crime victims.

"Across the nation, jurisdictions are moving away from a tough-on-crime
approach because it destroys budgets, is plagued with inequities and has
not made us safer," the webpage reads.

LOS ANGELES DEPUTY DAS SLAM GEORGE GASCON FOR DECLINING THEIR INVITATION
TO DEFEND HIMSELF AGAINST RECALL

LA deputy DA slams Gascon for creating an ‘environment where crime
thrives’Video
Upon taking office in December 2020, Gascon issued a number of directives
that included barring prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, charging
juveniles as adults, sentencing enhancements and asking for cash bail for
certain crimes.

In defense of choosing not to prosecute some misdemeanors, the DA's office
wrote that defendants who are not prosecuted for such crimes are less
likely to find themselves in the legal system within two years. In
response, several Los Angeles County cities have taken over the
prosecution of misdemeanors within their borders.

In arguing in favor of the reforms, Gascon's office cited studies that
said alternatives to cash bail like supervised release programs don't have
negative impacts on public safety and increase rates at which defendants
return to court. He noted that bail allows defendants with greater
financial means to buy their freedom while defendants of color often have
bail set in higher amounts than White defendants.

Research cited by the DA's office from the Southern Poverty Law Center
said children prosecuted as adults are more likely to re-offend than those
held in the juvenile justice system.

The move to stop seeking gang and sentencing enhancements has particularly
come under scrutiny. Gascon has said such policies have exacerbated over-
incarceration and have not proved to reduce crime.

"Enhancements are also the primary driver of a system of mass
incarceration that needlessly siphons billions into jails and prisons, and
away from our communities and the investments victims of crime want us to
make," he wrote in a letter days after taking office. "I recognize there
are some victims that want this office to seek the maximum sentence
permissible in their case, but punishment must be in the community’s best
interest, proportional, and it must serve a rehabilitative or restorative
purpose."

California Three Strikes Law and enhancements have exacerbated racial
disparities, according to the Southern California chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, which was cited by the DA's office.

Despite the data, Gascon's directives have courted controversy. Some crime
victims have accused him of having a soft-on-crime approach amid a crime
wave while also favoring the rights of criminals.

"I don't believe his policies are for the people he was voted to serve,"
Patrick Miller, whose sister Michelle Avan was allegedly killed by her ex-
boyfriend inside her Los Angeles home in April 2021, previously told Fox
News in January. "We expect justice when something happens. He puts you in
a position to make justice seem as not the norm."

Gascon's office did not file special circumstances charges against the
suspect.

Some Los Angeles County prosecutors have come out against the progressive
initiatives.

Eric Siddall, a deputy district attorney who also serves as the vice
president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles
County, previously told Fox News that his boss hinders his prosecutors.

"It would be like someone said ‘You have a (Apple) MacBook, but I want you
to use an abacus to solve this mathematical problem,’" he said. "The
district attorney is not always on the side of victims of crime."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/la-county-da-george-gascon-says-prosecutorial-
policies-based-on-science-amid-renewed-criticism