DA’S plan to break violence cycle

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced sweeping policy changes as he took office yesterday, including a plan to end the use of cash bail in the nation’s largest court system and a ban on his prosecutors seeking sentencing enhancements in nearly all cases.

The dramatic reversals to deeply engrained, traditional law enforcement strategies in the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office also include plans to review thousands of old cases to determine whether lighter sentences or a prisoner’s release should be sought, Gascon said in speech after being sworn in. Gascon also said he expects to bring an end to misdemeanour prosecutions of most first-time, nonviolent offenders.

‘‘I recognise for many this is a new path . . . whether you are a protester, a police officer or a prosecutor, I ask you to walk with me. I ask you to join me on this journey,’’ he said. ‘‘We can break the multigenerational cycles of violence, trauma and arrest and recidivism that has led America to incarcerate more people than any other nation.’’ During his contentious campaign against the incumbent D.A., Jackie Lacey, Gascon had vowed more big changes, including barring prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in new cases and to end the practice of trying juveniles as adults. He followed through on both of those campaign promises yesterday, announcing them among the slew of new policies.

The moves have already drawn concerns from the ranks of the 1200 deputy district attorneys who will now serve under Gascon, some of whom have complained that the new top pros

Los Angeles County District Attorney

ecutor drew up many of these new positions without input from the office he is now set to oversee.

Under the policy Gascon laid out, beginning January 1, the use of cash bail will end in L.A. County. Instead, prosecutors will be directed to ask judges to release defendants while their cases move through the courts, except when someone is accused of homicide or a small number of other serious crimes. In those cases, prosecutors will seek to have defendants kept in custody.

During his time as D.A. in San Francisco, Gascon pursued a similar undoing of the bail system, which critics have assailed as being rife with inequities. In its place, he championed the use of risk assessment tools, which evaluate the likelihood that a defendant will commit more crimes if released. L.A. County’s court system tested the use of a similar tool last year, but Gascon’s announcement suggested a clean break from pretrial incarceration for the vast majority of the people accused of crimes in the county.

The office will also stop filing misdemeanour charges against first-time offenders accused of nonviolent misdemeanours whose crimes were largely driven by poverty or addiction, Gascon said. The move again mirrored one he made in San Francisco, although it was not clear how that policy would affect jurisdictions in the sprawling county such as the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

– LA Times

‘‘I recognize for many this is a new path . . . whether you are a protester, a police officer or a prosecutor, I ask you to walk with me.’’ George Gascon