{"id":36820,"date":"2023-02-01T02:17:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T02:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=36820"},"modified":"2023-02-01T02:17:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T02:17:16","slug":"brooke-jenkins-squares-off-with-las-progressive-da-george-gascon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/01\/brooke-jenkins-squares-off-with-las-progressive-da-george-gascon\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooke Jenkins Squares Off With LA\u2019s Progressive DA George Gasc\u00f3n"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n English<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Brooke Jenkins sparred with her former boss and the current Los Angeles district attorney in an unusual debate between two of the state\u2019s most powerful DAs\u2014as well as a handful of the state\u2019s DAs who still carry the mantle of reform\u2014which she campaigned against.<\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s tough-on-crime district attorney publicly clashed with her progressive Los Angeles counterpart over their dueling views on crime and punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The heated exchange between Brooke Jenkins and George Gasc\u00f3n was caught on video Friday during a University of San Francisco panel<\/a> of mostly progressive prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Sparks started flying while they sat side-by-side on a panel where Gascon railed against carceral justice in what seemed like a veiled critique of Jenkins.<\/p>\n

Video courtesy of University of San Francisco. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe know that concrete boxes don\u2019t cure mental health just like they don\u2019t cure cancer,\u201d Gasc\u00f3n said. \u201cIf we are not honest about it and if we\u2019re not willing to tell our community that we cannot fix every social ill, we are actually doing harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate reflected broader tensions between reform-minded and hard-on-crime prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n was joined on the panel by fellow progressive DAs\u2014Diana Becton<\/a> and Pamela Price<\/a>, from Contra Costa and Alameda counties, respectively\u2014along with the more conservative San Mateo County DA Steve Wagstaffe.<\/p>\n

This was no campaign debate since each DA already won a recent election\u2014but it showed how the future of criminal justice reforms in California remains an open question despite the ascendance of more conservative prosecutors like Jenkins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n\u2014who served as San Francisco\u2019s DA from 2011 to 2019\u2014has increasingly held himself up as a progressive prosecutor. The newly elected Price in Alameda and reelected Becton in Contra Costa likewise campaigned as reformers. Their opposite on the panel and in politics, Jenkins ran a tough-on-crime campaign against her former boss and progressive poster child Chesa Boudin.<\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s discussion about how to balance punishment with rehabilitation was encapsulated by the question that almost all of the California prosecutors have made central to their political futures: whether or not harsh punishment will deter crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The panel grew from a simmer to near-boiling after Gasc\u00f3n condemned incarceration as a one-size-fits-all approach to solving social issues. He said he tells every prosecutor he hires that they have the same obligation as doctors: Do no harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to look at our interventions and ask, \u2018Am I really fixing anything or am I actually causing a bigger problem?\u2019\u201d Gasc\u00f3n said. He continued by saying that data shows that few people who go to jail come out any different, so prosecutors who focus on putting people in jail as a tool to make streets safer often just prolong the problems they are trying to solve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jenkins\u2019 response, which focused on her responsibility to the victims of crimes instead of the disproportionate number of Black and Latino people in jail, seemed to be a direct contradiction of Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s point about data showing that relying on jails to solve social ills has not worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to include victims in this part of the dialogue: What data also shows is that the majority of victims of crimes are Black and Brown\u2014my community\u2014the people that look like me,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019ve had people who I sent to prison come back and give me a hug and say, \u2018Thank you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins then seemingly criticized DAs who have little to no actual courtroom experience. Jenkins and Wagstaffe, San Mateo\u2019s DA, were the only two such lawyers on the panel with extensive courtroom experience as prosecutors. Price spent much of her career as a criminal defense attorney, Becton as a judge and Gasc\u00f3n as a police officer before being elected DAs.<\/p>\n

Jenkins said handling heinous cases involving child molestation, murder and hate crimes gave her insight into how these crimes have impacted victims. Those victims, she continued, deserve a DA who will look at the facts and use whatever is at their disposal to prosecute those cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are really terrible people in our society, I am sorry to say,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want me to eliminate my tools when that person comes across your child or mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n English<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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