There's a new district attorney in The City, and she means business.
A former, tough-on-crime assistant district attorney (ADA) for San Francisco, Brooke Jenkins led the successful recall effort to replace District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Voters elected Boudin in 2019 as a progressive reformer. But when pandemic-related crime and gun violence rose in San Francisco, voters recalled him onhttps://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/08/chesa-boudin-san-francisco-district-attorney-recall-00038002 June 7. Mayor London Breed appoihttps://missionlocal.org/2022/07/brooke-jenkins-district-attorney-chesa-boudin-recall/nted Jenkins to replace him.
Within days, Jenkins fired more than a dozen staffers. She brought in three new ADAs with “morhttps://www.kqed.org/news/11919743/sf-da-brooke-jenkins-gun-control-this-week-in-ca-newse than 50 years of prosecutorial experience,” she said in a July 15 interview on KQED public television.
After a meeting with SOMA (South of Market Street) merchants on July 29, Jenkins tweeted:
“I met w/ SOMA merchants to hear their most pressing concerns: property crime, drug dealing & repeat offenders. Their livelihoods are at stake. I want to be clear that SF will no lohttps://twitter.com/BrookeJenkinsSF/status/1553126413254791168?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweetnger be a safe haven for those committing these crimes. There will be accountability & consequences.”
Boudin Supporters Criticize Jenkins
San Francisco defense attorney and former police commissioner John Hamasaki told the L.A. Times on July 9 that Jenkins has no management experience. He also said she has “a pretty gohttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-09/san-francisco-new-district-attorney-brooke-jenkins-criminal-justice-reformod history of what I think is objectively unethical conduct.”
The San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club expressed the concerns that Jenkins will bring a return to cash bail, enhanced sentencing penalties, and charging minors as adults.
In its written statement, the club told the Times that Jenkins represents a return “to a world with mass incarceration of our Black and Brown communities; where ‘guilty till proven innocent' is the motto of the current occupant in the district attorney's office.”
Jenkins Promises Progressive Justice
The Times article quoted Jenkins from her swearing-in ceremony, “I want to be very clear today that accountability and justice come in many forms. For some, accountability may have to be a prison, but for the majority of people, it is something else.”
Anybody arrested in San Francisco can expect aggressive prosecution and will need an equally aggressive defense. Call Amin Law for a free consultation at 415-851-4300.
Comments
There are no comments for this post. Be the first and Add your Comment below.
Leave a Comment