Nearly each challenger has mentioned they may reverse the sweeping coverage modifications Gascón enacted on his first day in workplace, however the deliberate implementation varies on such a stroll again.
Hochman, Hatami, Milton and McKinney have mentioned they might both erase the entire district legal professional’s insurance policies or start their phrases because the “precise reverse of George Gascón.” Hochman has accused Gascón of ushering in “the golden age of criminals,” and Milton claimed the district legal professional is a part of a broader nationwide try to “destroy our constitutional democratic republic.”
Hochman has additionally promised to reinstitute using the dying penalty and order prosecutors to as soon as once more attend parole hearings for inmates they beforehand convicted, a follow Gascón had stopped.
Milton and Archuleta have mentioned they might direct prosecutors to file all sentencing enhancements that may be proved, one other place shared by Hochman.
Milton is the one candidate operating as a Republican. Although Hochman rebranded himself for the first as having no get together desire, he ran as a Republican when he challenged Rob Bonta within the 2022 state legal professional common’s race, wherein he was soundly defeated.
Others have taken a extra nuanced method: Ramirez mentioned she’d rein in Gascón’s insurance policies however not eradicate them, as a substitute “empowering” prosecutors to use them on a case-by-case foundation. Siddall has taken a equally average path, promising to run a “progressive workplace that features” with leeway on using sentencing enhancements. Each additionally mentioned they’d deal with recruiting new prosecutors to an workplace that’s bleeding workers.
Mitchell, a longtime choose, says he believes in “restorative justice.” However he has additionally blasted Gascón for enacting insurance policies that he claims profit criminals. He has mentioned he would file all enhancements which might be legally permissible, and has rejected criticism of mass incarceration, noting that as a result of his work with drug customers in Skid Row, he believes the “timeout” supplied by jail has helped change some individuals’s lives.
Chemerinsky — whose father, Erwin, helped craft a few of Gascón’s insurance policies — has been the one individual apart from Gascón to spend prolonged time on debate phases speaking about prison justice reform. Whereas echoing the district legal professional’s considerations about mass incarceration, he additionally mentioned the workplace must focus extra on prosecuting defendants who commit gun crimes and acts of violence.
Kapelovitz and Masson didn’t enter the race till the December 2023 deadline to file for the first, and didn’t seem in early debates.
A journalist turned protection legal professional, Kapelovitz appears to be the one candidate tacking to Gascón’s left. He mentioned he’ll additional struggle to scale back mass incarceration, and has referred to as for even tighter limits on when instances could be filed and when bail could be sought. In an e-mail to The Occasions, Kapelovitz mentioned he would additionally bar prosecutors from searching for bail towards defendants accused of nonviolent crimes and work to recruit “justice-oriented attorneys who consider in justice reform” to fill vacancies within the workplace.
Masson, a cold-case prosecutor within the San Bernardino County district legal professional’s workplace, mentioned he would instantly drop “the hammer on all theft, housebreaking and theft-related offenses, together with follow-home robberies, automotive thefts, retail theft and catalytic converter thefts.” He additionally referred to as for an finish to “blanket zero-bail insurance policies,” although L.A. County’s present bail schedule is about by the Superior Court docket system, not the district legal professional’s workplace.
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