San Francisco votes out liberal prosecutor

san francisco San Francisco citizens voted out District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Tuesday last week. The city in California is one of the most democratic in the USA, and Boudin is an important politician in the liberal judiciary reform. He was a District Attorney, a prosecutor tasked with enforcing state criminal laws at the local level.

The deselection puts US President Joe Biden under pressure ahead of the important midterm elections. “The voters sent a clear message,” Biden said of the defeat. The reason for this was the high crime rate in San Francisco. Boudin has been the city’s chief prosecutor since early 2020. Critics accused him of pursuing a “zero consequences policy” for petty crime. Other prosecutors are now also threatened with being voted out, such as George Gascon in crime-ridden Los Angeles. He was Boudin’s predecessor in San Francisco.

Many people in San Francisco or Los Angeles have been increasingly confronted with open drug trafficking on the streets for the past two years. Robbery, violence or sexualised violence on subways and buses are commonplace. Criminals systematically raid retailers. For example, the drugstore chain Walgreens has closed more than 20 stores in the city since 2021. Walgreens says its stores in San Francisco are robbed five times as often as in other US cities.

Another problem is that there are many homeless people living in camps on the streets among leftover food and faeces. Homelessness costs San Francisco half a billion dollars a year. The city rents hotels to house them, buys them tents.

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Meanwhile, arrested drug dealers from countries such as Honduras or Nicaragua were rarely pursued by the public prosecutor. They usually have to cede their profits to people smugglers who brought them illegally to the United States. If they go to prison, their wives and children face violence.

The prosecution wanted “kilos, not crumbs,” as the voted-out Boudin explained. He wanted the backers of the cartels, not street dealers. Bram Cohen, a San Francisco tech investor, supported Boudin’s vote, saying, “Boudin’s vote is presented as a debate about judicial reform. But it is not. Liberal San Francisco voted out a liberal district attorney because he just can’t get anything done.”

Difficult balancing act: Joe Biden’s voters put him under pressure

So is the vote against Boudin a Democrat slugfest, not a Republican coup? This is supported by the fact that the few Republicans in San Francisco have little power to get majorities at the ballot box. That’s what makes things so bad for President Biden. It is his own constituents who voted against the liberal Boudin.

Biden now faces a difficult balancing act. He must not lose the support of political activists like Black Lives Matters, who oppose increased police presence or tougher sentences. On the other hand, he has to convince the crime-ridden citizens of San Francisco.

A US-wide survey by the PEW Institute shows that only 15 percent of citizens are in favor of reducing police funding (“defund police”). In 2020, this proportion was still 26 percent. At the same time, the proportion of those who want more money for the police increased from 31 percent in 2020 to 47 percent in 2021.

>> Read here: Law enforcement zone San Francisco: Criminals are terrorizing the golden city

During his State of the Union address in March, Biden announced, “We should all agree that the solution cannot be to cut the police force. She needs to get enough, and the education she needs, to protect our communities.” This drew criticism from left-wing Democrats and anti-police violence activists.

Why Chesa Boudin was voted out

District Attorney Boudin was initially able to convince the citizens with his campaign promises. He wanted to reduce prison sentences for trivialities, abolish the bail bond system and treat violent cops like other delinquent citizens. Bail bonds allow suspects to buy their way out of pre-trial detention in return for a deposit. This is considered a discriminatory legal situation for poorer suspects who lose their jobs and homes in custody and are left with nothing even after an acquittal.

But according to the critics, Boudin’s policy had the negative effect that repeat offenders got away with it again and again. In fact, the figures show that violent crimes such as murder, manslaughter or sexual offenses have actually declined slightly compared to other major cities

Chesa Boudin

Before he was voted out, Boudin was still confident of victory.

(Photo: AP)

Crimes in other areas increased rapidly: street robbery, property crime, shoplifting, vandalism, car break-ins, street drug dealing. These were classified by Boudin as “lifestyle crimes” and not particularly prosecuted. In the case of shoplifting, for example, the police rarely come or come much too late, shop owners complain. The police say that if they bring someone in for something like this, the district attorney will then release them. Boudin indignantly denied this. The dispute between the police and the public prosecutor’s office was carried out openly.

In the Christmas business, this meant that the posh shopping mile “Union Square” was converted into a high-security wing. A mobile police operations center, dozens of patrol cars and evening roadblocks regulated the shopping. Previously, mobs of up to 100 shoplifters had looted entire department stores, leaving behind traumatized sales staff.

Biden could lose his majority in midterm elections

For citizens, the issue of crime, alongside inflation, the state of the economy and unemployment, has become an important issue for the midterm elections. In November, majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives will be redistributed in Washington.

San Francisco’s Democratic revolt against its own progressive wing is sapping Biden’s chances of retaining his narrow one-vote majority in the Senate. He even threatens a minority in both chambers. Then he would be, as they say in the US, a “lame duck” who can no longer pass his own laws independently.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Vice President Harris had also made a name for herself as a progressive prosecutor.

(Photo: AP)

Meanwhile, resentment over recent reforms in the US justice system and differences between law enforcement and law enforcement continues to spread. New York’s black Mayor Eric Adams, a retired police officer, vented his anger when he said the city’s criminals had become “a laughing stock” at local law enforcement agencies.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who was only elected in January 2022, rejected this accusation. His approach to law enforcement is comparable to Boudin’s. According to surveys, seven out of ten residents of the city fear becoming a victim of violence on the streets or on public transport such as the subway. Mayor Adams was elected by a majority for running a law and order campaign in New York.

>> Read here: Even Trump’s son praises this man: New York’s mayor is considered a beacon of hope for the Democrats

While citizens, officials and politicians are discussing the reorganization of police finances, the economic situation is already creating new realities of “defunding”. The state of Michigan is already running out of money to refuel the patrol cars after the high price increases for gasoline.

Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main said police need to handle as many cases over the phone as possible. Nevertheless, there would be more patrols, he assured. But if there is no recognizable danger to life and limb or if no crime is in progress, the police cars will not drive out again until further notice.

More: Stolen analogue, sold digitally – The USA is sinking in a wave of looting and crime

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