Gascón Halts Notifying Victims of Parole Hearings

Reversing a decades old policy, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office will no longer let crime victims and their families know that the criminal who assaulted them or murdered their loved one is receiving a parole hearing.  Jason McGahan of Los Angeles Magazine reports that an email distributed to deputies on Tuesday announced that DA George Gascón feels that it is “not appropriate” for prosecutors to notify victims and next of kin of upcoming parole hearings.  This comes as Gascón also informed deputies that he will be closing down the “lifer unit,”  which argued on behalf of victims to oppose the parole of murderers sentenced to life in prison.   A spokesman for Gascón explained that informing victims or their surviving relatives can be traumatic, and that victims have a right not to be notified of their assailant’s parole hearing.

As a result of this policy change, victims who had registered with the DA’s office to be notified regarding their assailant’s possible parole, must now depend upon the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to notify them.  This leaves out many families of murder victims who did not register because the criminal who killed their loved ones were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, or multiple life terms.  As the article notes many of these criminals are now be eligible for parole due to “a cascade of criminal sentencing reforms at the state and county level in recent years–such as so-called elder and youthful parole and resentencing statutes have been coupled with Gascón’s own scrapping of enhancements for things like hate crimes, gangs, and firearm allegations.”

Duties of the lifer unit include keeping victims and families of victims informed and keeping the county in line with the rights of crime victims enshrined in the California constitution….By pulling the plug on the unit charged with keeping the county in line with the rights of crime victims enshrined in the California constitution, Gascón appears to be thumbing his nose at detractors who view his dizzying set of reforms—from suspending the death penalty to getting rid of cash bail—as being “soft of crime.”

Last week the campaign to recall Gascón turned in roughly 717,000 signatures to give voters a chance to remove him from office.  This was about 150,000 more signatures than required to qualify the recall for the ballot.  Amazingly, Gascón is doubling-down on his pro-criminal agenda, which is what sparked the recall effort.  One respected pro-law enforcement advocate speculated that Gascón does not fear a recall because progressive billionaire George Soros, who helped bankroll his 2020 election, has given him a black check.