Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lambasted L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón throughout a Thursday night time Fox Information debate with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In a spat over crime in California and Florida, DeSantis repeatedly pointed to Gascón, who has sought to overtake L.A. County’s prison justice system since he entered workplace in 2020.
“They’re on an ideological joyride to let folks out of jail,” DeSantis stated. “Gavin’s buddy in Los Angeles, Gascón, he doesn’t even prosecute them,” he added, persevering with that he had heard from folks in California who have been scared to go purchasing for worry of getting mugged.
“Gavin Newsom has not lifted a finger to rein in Gascón in L.A.,” DeSantis stated, arguing that the county has “collapsed” as a result of the district lawyer “shouldn’t be implementing the regulation.”
A Occasions evaluation of the L.A. County district lawyer’s workplace’s submitting charges confirmed that Gascón truly prosecuted felonies at a near-identical fee to his predecessor, Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, throughout his first two years in workplace. Gascón did, nevertheless, file solely half as many misdemeanor instances as Lacey after barring prosecutors from submitting low-level costs for crimes akin to trespassing and easy drug possession.
Avoiding these low-level costs was a part of Gascón’s effort to maintain folks experiencing psychological sickness or homelessness out of jail and as an alternative steer them into diversion packages for counseling, therapy and rehabilitation.
Violent crime, robberies and aggravated assaults have gone up in L.A. County throughout Gascón’s tenure, in keeping with California Division of Justice statistics. However criminologists have famous related crime will increase in components of the state overseen by conventional prosecutors, elevating doubts about any hyperlink between Gascón’s insurance policies and against the law surge.
Violent crime within the metropolis of L.A. was down practically 7% within the first 9 months of 2023 relative to the identical interval final 12 months, in keeping with Los Angeles Police Division statistics.
One among Gascón’s proposals was to cut back the size of jail sentences for as much as 30,000 folks in California prisons. Few folks have truly had their sentences modified, a Occasions evaluation concluded.
Gascón has acquired blowback on his insurance policies since getting into workplace, however survived two failed recall efforts final 12 months. He faces a crowded area of challengers in subsequent 12 months’s election.
Occasions employees author James Queally contributed to this report.