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SF DA-elect Chesa Boudin sets new course in gang cases, citing charges ‘infused with racism’
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | December 14, 2019 | Evan Sernoffsky

Posted on 01/15/2020 6:43:00 AM PST by karpov

One of Chesa Boudin’s first planned policy changes when he takes over as San Francisco’s district attorney next month seeks to answer a question that has long ignited debates in the city: Should people accused of crimes face harsher punishments if their actions allegedly benefited a street gang?

The former public defender, who takes office Jan. 8, promises to put an end to filing what are known as gang enhancements against defendants — charges that can add years to felony sentences. Gang enhancements have drawn increased opposition in California, driven by statistics showing that they are disproportionately applied to people of color in poor neighborhoods.

Many law enforcement leaders say the charges are an important tool that allows them to hold gang members accountable for the fear they create in communities when they protect turf, intimidate witnesses, recruit new associates and commit violent crimes. But critics say gang enhancements yield arbitrary and excessive sentences, sending black and brown people to jail and prison at higher rates than white people who commit the same crimes, like assault or robbery.

State prison records show that of 11,484 inmates who were serving sentences with a gang enhancement as of Aug. 31, 68% were Hispanic and 24% were black. Just 3% were white.

“I want to focus on holding people accountable for what they’ve done — not who they are,” Boudin told The Chronicle. “People are seeing their families impacted by overzealous uses of these gang allegations.” Boudin said gang enhancements are “infused with racism.” The punishments, he said, increase tensions between minority communities and law enforcement, ultimately making the city less safe. “There are violent crimes that are going unsolved,” he said, “and we need cooperation from these communities where these crimes are being committed.”

(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: California
KEYWORDS: boudin; california; chesaboudin; gangs; sanfrancisco; sf
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From Wikipedia:

Boudin was born in New York City. His parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were Weather Underground members.

When Boudin was 14 months old, his parents were arrested for murder in their role as getaway car drivers in the Brink's robbery of 1981 in Rockland County, New York.His mother was sentenced to 20 years to life and his father to 75 years to life for the felony murders of two police officers and a security guard. After his parents were incarcerated, Boudin was raised in Chicago by adoptive parents Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who, like his parents, had been members of the Weather Underground. Boudin did not learn to read until age 9, a phenomenon common to children of incarcerated parents. Kathy Boudin was released under parole supervision in 2003.

Boudin descends from a long left-wing lineage. His great-great-uncle, Louis B. Boudin, was a Marxist theoretician and author of a two-volume history of the Supreme Court's influence on American government, and his grandfather Leonard Boudin was an attorney who represented controversial clients such as Fidel Castro and Paul Robeson. Boudin is also related to Michael Boudin, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and Isidor Feinstein Stone, an independent journalist.

1 posted on 01/15/2020 6:43:00 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov
...statistics show that [gang enhancements] are disproportionately applied to people of color in poor neighborhoods.

He's right. So why doesn't he go after The Jets?


2 posted on 01/15/2020 6:46:21 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
The Jets look like they would be right at home in SF...


3 posted on 01/15/2020 6:47:54 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: karpov

Democrats won’t go after gang members with red flag laws, either.

Democrats frown on targeting gang databases with ‘red flag’ laws
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/democrats-frown-on-targeting-gang-databases-with-red-flag-laws


4 posted on 01/15/2020 6:49:17 AM PST by tbw2
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To: karpov

Charges infused with racism? Are they charging them for being uppity, or miscegenation? Rascality perhaps?


5 posted on 01/15/2020 6:53:45 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: karpov

“they are disproportionately applied to people of color in poor neighborhoods.”

baloney. I wager the proportion fits the make up of the neighborhood and also the proportion of ethnicities of gang members.


6 posted on 01/15/2020 6:57:14 AM PST by b4me (God Bless the USA)
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To: karpov

After reading her bio - I’m SPEECHLESS!

Democrats really ARE a danger to America. This little ‘radical’ is surely going to find herself in a world of HURT. And I hope it’s before she can do any real damage and get innocent people killed in the crossfire.

(Not that I give a rip about Southern CA, anymore.) :(


7 posted on 01/15/2020 6:57:42 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: karpov

gang crime = organized crime. Personally, I think organized crime of all kinds is a more serious crime due to the assistance of an organization, sharing of information, support, retribution sources. Don’t care what flavor of organization it is. To ignore the insidious nature of organized crime is in itself criminal.


8 posted on 01/15/2020 7:00:03 AM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: karpov
"..they are disproportionately applied to people of color Gang Members.... "

There, fixed it.

9 posted on 01/15/2020 7:00:34 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Sorry, but who are these people? Which movie?


10 posted on 01/15/2020 7:03:54 AM PST by nwrep
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To: karpov

He would not charge gang members at all if he could get away with it. He is a Soros guy and they need gang and Antifa violence to stir up unrest so the progressive can take over under marshal law.
There have actually been a number of Soros’s people caught saying this.


11 posted on 01/15/2020 7:10:02 AM PST by Agatsu77
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To: karpov

Maybe they are Hispanic or black. If they are in street gang they are criminals by definition.

So, do the crime, do the time. period!!

This “progressive” is working for Soros. Soros is trying to topple our government, an act of war by foreigners and treason by US citizens. Throw the traitor in prison until the rope and the tree are lined up.


12 posted on 01/15/2020 7:14:03 AM PST by Agatsu77
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To: karpov

“There are violent crimes that are going unsolved,” he said, “and we need cooperation from these communities where these crimes are being committed.”

How many times do you read that the person brought to the hospital with a gun shot wound refuses to cooperate with the authorities? Will not give a name or even description of who shot him


13 posted on 01/15/2020 7:15:05 AM PST by artichokegrower
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To: nwrep

West Side Story 1961.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/


14 posted on 01/15/2020 7:15:20 AM PST by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: nwrep

It’s “The West Side Story,” the 1957 musical about the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks gangs.


15 posted on 01/15/2020 7:26:11 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: artichokegrower

Medium-sized town in SE Missouri. 16 year-old girl is murdered. Lot’s of witnesses. Killer is set free because no one will tell police what he saw. And yes this happened in a ‘neighborhood of color’.


16 posted on 01/15/2020 7:42:23 AM PST by hanamizu
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To: karpov
The Marxists are building the army that Obama spoke of way back in 2008.
17 posted on 01/15/2020 8:38:17 AM PST by Major Matt Mason (Q = Quidam.)
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To: karpov

The best bet for this is to go federal, that is, hitting the gang members with federal criminal and civil RICO. Which means they could go to a federal lockup for an extended, no parole stay, as well as forfeiting their current and any future assets.

Yeah, let the little leftist complain about that, because he won’t have any say in the matter. Instead of a mild sentence enhancement, they get five times as much hard time.


18 posted on 01/15/2020 9:08:14 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Liberalism is the belief everyone else should be in treatment for your disorder.)
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To: karpov

I wonder if he will become known as “San Francisco’s Lavrentiy Beria?


19 posted on 01/15/2020 9:51:51 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: karpov

finally a persecutor who will treat hispanic children (read MS-13) like individuals rather than the organized gang of murdering psychopaths they actually are.


20 posted on 01/15/2020 9:54:59 AM PST by olesigh
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