Voters in Southern California and the East Bay have ousted two of the boldest reform DAs to hold office since the “progressive prosecutor” movement began. In Los Angeles County, George Gascón lost his reelection bid to Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and 2020 Republican candidate for state attorney general who has vowed to undo all of Gascón’s changes to the role. In Alameda County, DA Pamela Price was recalled alongside Oakland’s mayor Sheng Thao after just two years in office. These defeats appear to be resounding: Initial results show that Hochman beat Gascón by a 23-point margin. Results have not been finalized in Alameda County, but as of publication support for Price’s recall was up by 30 points.
People don’t want justice, or rehabilitation, they want vengeance and immediate results.
Beyond that, it doesn’t really matter, these problems aren’t actually caused by something prosecutors can solve.
Indeed, although they certainly can help prevent perpetuating it - instead of giving a drug user time in jail where their life further falls down the track thru could give them resources, or instead of giving a woman living on the edge of financial ruin a ticket, you could scrap the tickets