SF DA Publicly Criticizes Judges

San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins has been publicly criticizing judges there for excessively lenient sentences. Not surprisingly, she has been getting blowback for that. But it is an important public issue, worthy of public debate. Bob Egelko has this story in the SF Chronicle.

In one recent statement, Jenkins said, “The majority of (San Francisco) judges do not treat drug dealing as a serious crime despite repeat offenses, and the grave consequences visited upon our communities, and the drug dealers therefore do not fear incarceration, or any significant consequence.”

Here are a few specific cases of overly lenient sentences:

When Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan sentenced an auto burglar with previous felony convictions to four months in jail rather than the two-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors, Jenkins bemoaned “a culture here … of judges viewing property crime as less significant,” allowing criminals “to use this courthouse as a revolving door.”

After Superior Court Judge Gerardo Sandoval issued a misdemeanor sentence in January for a minor theft by a man who had previous felony convictions, Jenkins posted on X that Sandoval had ignored “the clear will of the voters” who passed Proposition 36 in November, allowing felony prison sentences in such cases. “This behavior epitomizes the broken laissez-faire culture at the Hall of Justice,” the district attorney said.

And when Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin issued a suspended sentence in March to a mentally disturbed man who had stabbed an elderly Asian American woman, releasing him after 2½ years in jail while requiring five years of health treatment, Jenkins joined an angry protest by Asian Americans outside Tsenin’s courthouse.

Why does California have so many soft-on-crime judges? For starters, its people have unwisely elected soft-on-crime governors in four consecutive elections. Elections have consequences.

California trial judges are appointed by the governor when vacancies occur outside the election cycle. Judges can time their retirement so that the vacancy is filled by election rather than appointment, but few do. Judges have to stand for reelection in opposed but nonpartisan elections. But running against an incumbent judge is such a longshot that few attempt it. If no opponent files, the judge is reelected without even appearing on the ballot. When there is a race, it is such a “down ballot” race that few voters pay much attention.

If enough public attention is raised, it might be possible to knock a few off in the next election.

But the most important step is to elect better governors.