Criminal justice reform in California is doing fairly well, says the Los Angeles Times.
Despite Chesa Boudin being recalled as San Francisco district attorney and right-wing forces trying to roll back criminal justice reform nationwide, the publication says Boudin was targeted in particular.
But in the rest of California, the June 7 primary races fared well for many reform prosecutors and candidates.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has so far has won more than half the vote in his five-person race. Sacramento County’s District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who is against the progressive prosecutor movement, came in fourth.
People pushing to roll back recent reforms did not do so well.
Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen, who supported Proposition 47 from the start, won reelection. Proposition 47 made drug possession a misdemeanor and raised the felony threshold for theft.
There were some letdowns in addition to Boudin. San Joaquin County Dist. Atty. Tori Verber Salazar who brought innovative reforms to the region lost.
In Orange County, Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer who cites L.A. as a place where crime has spun out of control due to progressive policies, won reelection.
The paper’s op-ed states that the election results show little evidence of an end to the criminal justice reform movement both in the state of California or across the nation. “Most Californians want a justice system that is fair, measured and responsible, not one that is based on fear and the longest possible prison terms for the greatest number of people,” it states. The conservative winners are the exceptions, not the norm, and voters are making it clear by the choices on their ballots that they hope to continue moving the criminal justice reform movement forward.
