Category: Prosecutors

300 LA Traffic Deaths in 2022, Activists Blame Streets

by · Jan 18, 2023 2:33 pm

A story by Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times reports that traffic deaths in the city have hit a two-decade high.  More than half of the deaths involved vehicles hitting pedestrians or people on bicycles, both which significantly increased compared to prior years.  This comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that traffic fatalities nationally remained flat over 2022.  What is causing this increase?  The Los Angeles Times did not inquire into how many traffic fatalities involved an intoxicated driver.  With an estimated 69,000 homeless in LA, many using drugs, riding bicycles and wandering the streets, it might be that pedestrians and bike riders are part of the problem, but this was not reported.  Last March, the Los Angeles Police Commission announced that LAPD Officers were no longer authorized to make traffic stops.  This limits officers from pulling over cars weaving, turning without a signal, failing to stop at a stop sign or driving with an expired registration.  Losing the ability to stop a driver who is intoxicated and/or blatantly ignoring traffic laws might actually encourage traffic fatalities.  This concern was not reported in the Times.

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Recusing the District Attorney’s Office

by · Nov 22, 2022 3:54 pm

Can an entire district attorney’s office be recused from a criminal case on the basis of a campaign fund-raising letter that calls the defund-the-police movement “wacky” and opposes “anarchist groups”? I would think that opposing anarchy is a job requirement for a district attorney, not a disqualification.

Does it matter if the district attorney has appeared in forums where other people said critical things about a group the defendants are affiliated with? I would not think so. But surprisingly, the Superior Court for San Luis Obispo County, California, recused the DA on just such grounds, and the Court of Appeal affirmed. CJLF today filed an amicus curiae letter brief supporting the DA’s petition for review in the California Supreme Court. Continue reading . . .

Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner Impeached

by · Nov 17, 2022 12:51 pm

The Pennsylvania House has voted 107-85 to impeach Soros-bankrolled Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.  With Krasner running the District Attorney’s office,  homicides, violent crime and carjackings have reached historic levels, exceeding those of much larger cities including New York and Los Angeles.  The Washington Post reports that the impeachment now moves to a trial in the state Senate.  Krasner, a progressive reformer who brags about fewer arrests and convictions on his website, responded to the impeachment saying, “it shows how far toward fascism the Republican party is creeping.”  Both the PA House and Senate have Republican majorities.

Krasner insists that his policies are “working,” seemingly unconcerned about homicide rates

by · Oct 6, 2022 12:48 pm

Over the last several years, the progressive prosecutor movement has grown in popularity, with more and more policy changes reducing penalties for certain crimes. A common theme is for district attorneys to restrict prosecutions for certain offenses, and to reduce the severity of punishments for cases that are prosecuted.

One example is Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who has been dismissing more and more cases each year, despite the fact that the city recently reached its highest murder rate in history. He thinks that his approach is “working,” per a recent local news interview (originally reported by Heather McDonald in the Daily Mail and summarized in a CJLF post). In the interview, he incessently denied that his policies have negative consequences and was seemingly unconcerned about the homicide increase.

The sheer fact that homicides have increased in Philadelphia every year of Krasner’s term should be cause for concern. Not surprisingly, a deep dive into the research confirms that Krasner’s policies are at least partially to blame for the increase in homicides in Philadelphia.

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Philadelphia murder rates rise due to lenient sentences sought by progressive prosecutor Larry Krasner

by · Sep 27, 2022 12:58 pm

As the progressive prosecutor movement grows in popularity, we see more and more policy changes that reduce penalties for certain crimes. One of the common themes is de-prosecution, or the discretionary decision to not prosecute certain criminal offenses. Another aspect of de-prosecution involves reducing the severity of punishment for individuals who are prosecuted. The movement came about due to the belief of many progressives that mass incarceration actually increases crime through supposed “criminogenic” effects. That is, they believe that people who serve long periods of time in prison will adapt to that culture and learn certain behaviors that will make them worse criminals. However, opponents argue that de-prosecution policies don’t hold offenders sufficiently accountable, and will only encourage more crime as offenders learn that there are little to no consequences for their behavior.

In Philadelphia, de-prosecution began in 2015 with District Attorney Seth Williams. This resulted in a substantial decline in both new cases prosecuted and sentencings (particularly for drug possession, drug trafficking, and felony possession of firearms), a trend that accelerated when District Attorney Larry Krasner took office in 2018. At the annual Federalist Society Convention last year, Krasner boasted that his policies are “on the side of the data,” vehemently denying that de-prosecution increases crime. However, a 2022 study published in Criminology and Public Policy refuted Krasner’s claims. The study, conducted by Thomas Hogan, revealed a causal link between de-prosecution and increased homicides in Philadelphia.

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Cal. Legislature’s Rescue of Murderers Upheld

by · Aug 24, 2022 12:32 pm

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is engaged in an all-out effort to reduce the sentences of LA murderers. Among the beneficiaries of Gascón’s efforts is Scott Collins, who gunned down Fred Rose in 1992, stole his car, then drove the car to Fresno to use it in a drive-by shooting. For this he was justly sentenced to death, and the judgment has been upheld on both direct appeal and state habeas corpus.

Despite Gascón’s defection, there appeared to be a strong chance of stopping his intended miscarriage of justice until the murderer-friendly California Legislature came to his aid. Continue reading . . .

Responses to Soros Op-Ed

by · Aug 9, 2022 10:01 am

As noted in this post, the WSJ recently published an op-ed by George Soros explaining why he has pumped money into the campaigns of progressive prosecutors and intends to continue doing so. This article naturally prompted many critical letters to the editor, and the WSJ has printed them over multiple days, which is somewhat unusual.

In today’s batch, the WSJ printed my letter, noting an example refuting Soros’s claim that the progressive policies are evidence based. The August 4 batch included letters from Thomas Hogan on recent research tying progressive prosecutors to increased homicides and from Hans Bader on the fallacy of Soros’s racial statistics (unfortunately chopped down in the editing process to omit essential support). Yesterday’s print edition has a letter from an LA police officer with anecdotal but significant evidence that criminals in LA believe they can commit crimes with impunity because of the LA DA’s policies.

New SF District Attorney Fires 15

by · Jul 20, 2022 9:57 am

Newly appointed San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has fired fifteen of recalled DA Chesa Boudin’s top staff members, angering progressives.  Eric Ting of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Jenkins told reporters the firings were necessary to help fulfill her promise to hold “serious and repeat offenders accountable.”   Among those getting the ax were Managing Attorney Arcelia Hurtado, a member of the city’s Innocence Commission established by Boudin in 2020.  Hurtado was also the head of the office’s Post Conviction Review Unit, which is currently considering a petition to reduce the sentence of Mayor London Breed’s brother, who is serving time in prison for manslaughter, armed robbery and carjacking.   Mayor Breed payed a $23,000 fine for unethical conduct after asking then-Governor Jerry Brown to commute her brother’s sentence in 2018.

Continue reading . . .

Lax Sentencing Keeps the Morgue Busy in Baltimore

by · Jul 16, 2022 3:09 pm

Baltimore has one of the more notorious “progressive” prosecutors around, Marilyn Mosby.  Apart from her other accomplishments, such as failing to win a single conviction in the Freddie Gray case, which she and other Leftists  hyped relentlessly for its political effect, Ms. Mosby is currently under federal indictment for cheating to obtain a government loan as  part of COVID relief.  Like defendants  everywhere, she’s seeking to postpone her trial, and claiming that the case against her is a product of  —  ready now?  —  the Biden Administration’s racism.

Is there anything these people won’t say?

Of course the main problem with Ms. Mosby is not her cheating or her excessively political bent.  It’s that the Baltimore murder rate, already a scandal, has spiked under the lax sentencing she happily supports, as illustrated here.