Why I Stand With San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin
Recall would stymie the criminal justice reform that’s needed in SF and across the globe
The first thing Chesa Boudin did when elected District Attorney of San Francisco was let a lot of people out of jail. Not violent criminals. Not dangerous murderers. But people who had been in jail too long for too little, which happens to be the case for many inmates across America, which locks up more of its people than any other country in the world.
Criminal Justice Reform is Desperately Needed
Anyone who paid attention to the George Floyd killing that rocked the country in 2020 knows our criminal justice system is rigged against Black and poor people, and criminal justice reform is desperately needed in Minneapolis and everywhere else. That brutal public murder sparked protests against racism and police brutality in 2,000 cities across the U.S. and 60 countries worldwide. “In the United States, protests of racial injustice in mid 2020 were the largest since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and gave way to widespread civil unrest,” according to Wikipedia.
Boudin is Keeping His Campaign Promises
Criminal justice reform is what Chesa Boudin promised to do when he ran for election, and that’s what he IS doing in San Francisco.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was elected in 2019 on the promises of ending cash bail, bringing criminal charges against police officers who commit misconduct, and rapidly decreasing the number of people incarcerated ~CBS 60 Minutes, March 28, 2021
- He ended cash bail, a system which allows people with money to get out of jail while waiting for trial but leaves poor people behind bars, even though they haven’t been convicted, sometimes for months or years.
- He filed the first-ever homicide charge against an on-duty police officer in San Francisco who shot and killed an unarmed Black man
- He reduced the SF jail population by 40 percent.
Drug Addiction and Mental Illness Aren’t Crimes
No one likes to see the drug addicts lying on the street and shooting up drugs in the Tenderloin. It’s a terrible shame and a horrible heartbreak. But is throwing these people in jail the solution? Boudin says no. Putting people in jail does not cure them of drug addiction or mental illness. Those are medical issues, not criminal ones. But people who want to recall Boudin would like to blame him for these problems that were plaguing the city long before he became District Attorney. Here he is talking about those issues in an ad for his campaign.
Dark Money and Lies Are Being Used Against Him
The police union is against him. The Republican Party is against him. People who don’t believe our jail and prison systems need reforming are against him. The San Francisco Chronicle is apparently against him, judging by the headlines I read. And LOTS of money has been spent to besmirch his name. So now he faces a recall election June 7, just two years after taking office on January 8, 2020.
The Stand With Chesa committee says that most of the more than $1 million spent in the recall effort came from a single dark money PAC called Neighbors for a Better San Francisco which paid workers $10 a signature to get enough of them to put the recall on the ballot, convincing passersby to sign their petitions with fear mongering and false stories about rising crime.
In fact, crime is down in San Francisco. And Boudin has prosecuted crimes at a higher rate than his predecessor, and at a rate comparable to other Bay Area prosecutors. He’s doing his job.
Boudin is a Smart, Decent, and Committed Man
When I voted for Boudin in 2019, I didn’t know who he was. In fact, I thought he was a woman because of the “a” at the end of his first name. What convinced me to choose him over the other contenders was his candidate statement in the election pamphlet.
Since then, I’ve had a chance to learn more about him and hear him speak. And I’m impressed with his intelligence (he went to Yale) and devotion to criminal justice reform. For Boudin, it’s personal. His parents helped found The Weather Underground in the ’60s and spent most of his life in jail for their participation in a robbery that ended in the deaths of three people. They were the getaway drivers. They weren’t armed or on the scene. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have been sent to jail. But did throwing away the key really serve society? Boudin doesn’t think so. That’s why he’s working to change the system from within.
Boudin is part of a movement that has put lawyers from the Public Defender’s office in District Attorney seats, where they have more power to determine who is charged with a crime and what penalties to pursue. It’s a good strategy for reform that’s working in Boston, St. Louis, and Philadelphia, where progressive DAs are focusing on violent crime and going easier on other types in efforts to end mass incarceration.
Boudin Is Fighting Police Misconduct Right Now
Standing up to the police department isn’t easy. On Feb. 16, the SF Police Commission considered pulling out of a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the District Attorney’s office to investigate police misconduct. The Police Chief wants out of the MOU. The DA wants it to remain in place. Now it looks like the state Attorney General will be called in to mediate.
Meanwhile, Boudin is refusing to prosecute a property crime case against a woman whose DNA was obtained from a rape kit and then used to accuse her.
“I am disturbed that victims who have the courage to undergo an invasive examination to help identify their perpetrators are being treated like criminals rather than supported as crime victims,” he said in a statement. “We should encourage survivors to come forward — not collect evidence to use against them in the future. This practice treats victims like evidence, not human beings. This is legally and ethically wrong.”
After three members of the SF School Board were recalled in a landslide this week, I decided to join the Reject the Recall and Stand With Chesa groups to fight against the Boudin’s recall June 7, 2022.
If you live and vote in San Francisco, I urge you to do the same.
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