San Francisco’s new district attorney has thrown the policies of far-left predecessor Chesa Boudin in the trash by announcing a hard-line approach to drug dealers throughout the city.
More than 30 offers to plea bargain drug cases were revoked by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, including one defendant charged in six different incidents of dealing fentanyl in the Tenderloin District.
“Since 2020, nearly 1,500 people have died of drug overdose in part because dealers have been allowed to operate with impunity,” Jenkins said Wednesday at a press conference announcing her new policy.
NEW SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY SWORN IN TO REPLACE CHESA BOUDIN
“The lethality of fentanyl presents a different challenge, and we must immediately change course, so we can save lives and hold people accountable for the havoc they are wreaking in our communities like the Tenderloin and South of Market. Going forward, defendants holding lethal doses of fentanyl will face felony charges,” she said.
This is in sharp contrast to Boudin, who had a policy of seeking less jail time for most defendants and treated drug offenses with social services rather than punishment. As a result, San Francisco has a crime rate higher than the rest of California, particularly with burglary, theft, and larceny largely committed by drug offenders, police department records show.
The number of thefts started rising and reached record levels under former District Attorney George Gascon, who is now in Los Angeles with the same policies as Boudin and faces a likely recall in the coming months.
Jenkins quit her job as a prosecutor under Boudin in order to organize a recall election against him, which succeeded last month. She was named his successor by Mayor London Breed.
Throughout the recall campaign, Jenkins and crime victims blasted Boudin’s policies as catering to criminals while victims languished in obscurity. Jenkins continuously stated that criminals were not punished under her former boss.
Now, with her new policy, any dealers who have more than 5 grams of drugs will face charges that could include enhancements if they deal within 1,000 feet of a school or office. Defendants who have excessive amounts could be detained pending trial.
Boudin did not obtain any fentanyl convictions last year and only had 156 pending narcotics sales cases. The majority of cases involved fentanyl, including one in which a defendant had 308 grams.
One defendant was arrested five times and continuously granted community service by Boudin. Non-jail sentences as part of a specialized drug court community service program are intended for drug users rather than dealers, Jenkins said.
The defendant kept coming back to the Tenderloin to deal drugs despite being ordered by a judge to stay out of the area. He was offered a misdemeanor to settle all six of his cases.
Earlier this year, the body of a 16-year-old runaway was found on a Tenderloin sidewalk after she overdosed on drugs, KRON4 reported.
“As a new parent, I can only guess at the pain this death must have created for her family. I am committed to action. We will work together to hold dealers accountable,” Boudin tweeted.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
However, that didn’t happen.
“I think we have to start addressing repeat and violent offenders,” Jenkins told ABC7 shortly after she was appointed. “First, that needs to be our main priority. So that we are addressing those who continually commit crimes in San Francisco, continue to victimize people in a violent way … because I think we’ve created an environment where people think there are no consequences for their actions.”
