San Francisco residents voted to remove District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was elected on a criminal justice reform agenda, but faced an escalating backlash from law enforcement, conservatives and concerned residents. for the crime.
Boudin’s removal as top prosecutor midway through his first term is a blow to a growing movement across the United States to elect progressive district attorneys dedicated to tackling mass incarceration, police brutality and racism in the legal system.
The race was called by the Associated Press just over an hour after polls closed, with early returns showing that impeachment had received more than 60% of the vote.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a moderate Democrat, will name a successor to take over the prosecutor’s office, but did not immediately announce her choice on Tuesday. Breed has increasingly opposed Boudin’s policies and criminal justice reforms more broadly, repeatedly siding with police officers in disputes and pushing to expand the police force and its powers.
Boudin is a former public defender and the son of two leftist Weather Underground activists who spent decades in prison. He became one of the most prominent US prosecutors fighting to undo the damage of harsh punishments in a country that locks up more people per capita than any other nation.
After his election in 2019, Boudin created a wrongful conviction unit that freed a man imprisoned for decades; waived cash bail in an effort to ensure that people were not jailed because they were too poor to pay a fee; stopped processing smuggling cases originating from minor traffic stops; and he became the first San Francisco district attorney to charge an officer with on-duty manslaughter.
Through resentences, diversion, and other reforms, Boudin has overseen a 35% reduction in the population of San Franciscans in state prisons, a 37% decrease in the adult prison population, and a 57% decrease in the juvenile jail.
Boudin’s ouster came on a day of high-stakes primary races across the state, with the rising cost of living, policing and the state’s growing homeless crisis on the minds of voters.
In Los Angeles, the mayoral race that has pitted crime-hardened real estate developer Rick Caruso against former community organizer and Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass remained too close to decide. Meanwhile, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, scored an easy victory and advanced to the general election in November, where he will be a heavy favorite to win a second term just a year after surviving his own impeachment attempt.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a progressive who has backed reform efforts, advanced to Tuesday night’s general election, with early results showing Bonta holding a substantial lead against three challengers with more conservative platforms.
Tuesday’s primary was marked by low turnout, in what experts say is a clear sign of political apathy considering every registered voter in California was sent a ballot by mail.
“Even if you make it extremely easy to vote, like in California, but the political culture, the candidates and the issues aren’t there, you’re not going to increase turnout,” said political scientist Fernando Guerra.
The San Francisco impeachment campaign had a big financial head start, backed by ultra-wealthy donors, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, including Ron Conway, an early investor in DoorDash, and William Oberndorf, a billionaire and Republican mega-donor. Critics blamed Boudin for crime, violence, homelessness, shoplifting and other challenges that have intensified during the pandemic. Homicides are up in the city, echoing national trends, but violent crime overall diminished during the pandemic.
Experts say prosecutors’ policies often have little bearing on crime rates, which are a function of complex socioeconomic factors, with some research suggesting that harsher punishments do not deter crime. As the retreat gained ground, Boudin office noted that some of the California regions with “tough on crime” DAs that promote a punitive approach they were experiencing higher crime rates than San Francisco.
In an interview before the election, Boudin said the removal was “dangerous for democracy,” noting that voters chose to remove him without knowing who would replace him. The recall, he said, was based on a “playbook led by Republicans and police unions to undermine and attack progressive prosecutors who have been winning elections across the country.”
Progressive district attorneys in Philadelphia and Chicago have won re-election despite intense backlash, but have also faced new calls for their removal from office. There are also ongoing efforts to remove the Los Angeles district attorney, who was elected on a reform platform, but an initial campaign last year it has failed to get enough signatures.
Impeachment efforts, often backed by conservatives, have become increasingly common in California, where voters can request the removal of a politician for any reason. In February, San Francisco held its first city recall vote since 1983, with residents choosing to recall three school board members amid frustrations over school closures during the pandemic.
The Associated Press and Lois Beckett contributed to this report.
Reference-www.theguardian.com