Meet George Gascón, LA County District Attorney Running For Reelection

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is in the political fight of his life as he strives to hold onto his seat at the helm of the largest district attorney's office in the nation.

The progressive reformer faces former United States Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman, running a "hard center" campaign that appeared to be resonating with voters less than a month out from election day, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Tuesday. The poll showed Hochman with a 30-point lead.

Voters in the Nov. 5 election will decide between the two candidates in the most watched race in Los Angeles County and the most high-profile district attorney's race in the nation. The two squared off against one another in the March primary, garnering the most votes in a crowded field of 11 candidates.

Since he was elected in 2020, Gascón has been a lightning rod, instituting some of the most progressive reforms of any prosecutor's office in the country. For his part, Hochman garnered statewide name recognition when he ran for California Attorney General as a Republican in 2022, giving Democrat Robert Bonta a competitive race in a state that hasn't elected a Republican in more than a decade.

Now Gascón is sharing his goals for Los Angeles County.

To help voters in Los Angeles County glean more information about the candidates, Patch reached out to Hochman and Gascón with a list of identical questions that are top-of-mind for many. Gascón responded, and his unedited answers are below.

SEE ALSO: Meet Nathan Hochman, Candidate For LA County District Attorney

George Gascón

Party: Democrat

Family: I am a proud son, husband, father and grandfather

Education: Undergraduate Institution: California State University, Long Beach
Year of Graduation: 1978
Degree Conferred: Bachelor of Arts, History
Graduate Institution Attended: Western State University, College of Law
Year Of Graduation: 1995
Degree Conferred: Juris Doctorate

Occupation: Los Angeles County District Attorney

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office: Los Angeles County District Attorney

Campaign Website: https://georgegascon.org/

Why do you want to be Los Angeles County’s District Attorney?

While public safety is a top priority for my time in office, so is justice. Making our communities safer and more equitable is my life’s work. I’ve spent my career in law enforcement, and I’ve seen the positive and negative impacts the criminal justice system can have on an individual and a community.

What are the critical differences between you and your opponent?

As the only Democrat in this race, If reelected, I will continue to fight towards ending mass incarceration, continue to address the negative impacts the criminal justice system has had on individuals and communities, and continue to help establish and support proactive ways to prevent and reduce crime. Unfortunately, this makes me the only candidate in this race who is committed to continuing to move forward, not backslide.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle the job of the district attorney of the largest county in the country over the next four years?

I received my high school equivalency degree in the military, undergraduate history degree while working in sales, my law degree while policing Los Angeles streets, and In 1975, I received an honorable discharge as a sergeant. I bagged groceries in Los Angeles, I grew up in Bell and have come to call Los Angeles my home.

As a resident of Los Angeles County for the past 46 years, I have spent my career in law enforcement and have had the privilege of working with people from a wide cross-section of society. I have held mothers at the worst moments of their lives, arrested hardened criminals, and helped young people avoid prison through restitution programs. I have seen people at their best and worst moments, and what I took away from that 40+ year experience, is the basic and true humanity in all of us. But what I also saw was that much of our criminal justice system ignores this fact and instead uses the blunt instrument of incarceration to solve society’s woes.

I refuse to accept an approach that runs counter to my belief system. I registered as a Democrat to better align my beliefs with a Party that stands up for a future where all people have the opportunity to thrive.

If elected, what are your priorities?

I want my County to not only be safe for my constituents, but to be safe for myself and my loved ones. As a husband, father, and grandfather, I want grocery stores to be safe for my wife and daughters to shop at, public streets to be safe for my dog and I on our walks, and for parks to be safe for my grandchildren to play in. The impact of crime on Los Angeles County affects me, my family, and my constituents deeply.

As Los Angeles District Attorney, I am working to reform the system by ending mass incarceration, holding law enforcement accountable, addressing sexual assault and harassment in our community, and prosecuting polluters. I am focused on public safety, while also reforming the overburdened and outdated prison pipeline.

I have made reforming our criminal justice system a top priority and I place community first when prosecuting crimes. Because we need a system that is about more than punishment, we need a system that holistically addresses root causes of crime and aims to make Los Angeles County both fair and safe.

What reforms would you enact if elected?

If re-elected:

1. Protect and improve community safety

2. Hold law enforcement accountable to help rebuild the trust between the community and law enforcement officers

3. Implement and expand diversion and resentencing programs, and restorative justice practices within the office

4. Ensure the Conviction Integrity, Wage Theft and Environment Justice Units remains diligent and reliable

5. Empower and expand victims services

As district attorney, are there cases in which you would pursue the death penalty? Why or why not?

I ended the practice of seeking the death penalty upon taking office in 2020, drawing to a close decades of past practice that saw Los Angeles send more people to death row than any other county in the United States. LADA has also resentenced 29 people on California’s death row to life without the possibility of parole, in the interest of justice. The vast majority suffer from intellectual or cognitive disabilities, or brain damage. 72% are Black, 17% are Latino, two are white, and one is Asian.

What do you see as your role in reducing retail theft, violent crime, and property crime in Los Angeles County?

Individuals who commit serious and violent crime are held accountable today, just as they have always been. During my first term in office, filing rates for serious crime haven't changed.

● My office is filing homicide cases at the same rate as my predecessor.

● My filing rate for sexual assault is in line with my predecessor. In fact, I filed a higher percentage of rape cases in 2023 than in any year since 2015.

● My office is filing nearly every organized retail theft case that law enforcement brings to me (92% so far in 2024). I have filed more than 11,000 cases to date for organized retail
theft and commercial burglaries, including smash-and-grabs.

● Since I took office, I have increased the number of hate crime prosecutions. LA County hate crime prosecutions now account for a quarter of all cases in the state. I filed hate crimes charges in nearly 80% of the cases referred to the office last year. For comparison, statewide, less than half of the cases referred as hate crimes in 2023 were actually charged.

What is your stance on trying juveniles as adults?

Adult prison is not a place for kids, nor is it the best way for them to rehabilitate. The prison pipeline must end and keeping kids in juvenile court whenever appropriate can help us to do that. And in those extremely rare occasions when the case may be appropriate for adult court, my new policy allows for review and consideration.

I was the only DA in the state to support legislation to end LWOPs for juveniles when it was first introduced by former State Senator Leland Yee. In the case of juveniles, neuroscience has shown that adolescent brains continue to develop into their 20’s. Treating a young person as if they are an adult in the justice system ignores both the research as well as the high stakes outcomes.

Condemning a young person to life without parole when there is still so much opportunity for further maturation and rehabilitation is in my view absolutely wrong.

The Human Trafficking Victim Diversion Program within my office was proud to co-sponsor AB 2629, passed by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor in 2022. The bill will provide greater relief from the life-long consequences of a juvenile case than record sealing because it fully dismisses juvenile adjudications rather than just hiding them from public view. While juvenile courts have had the ability to seal a young person’s court records, it still hindered their ability to enlist in the military, obtain occupational licenses and achieve meaningful employment.

What is your stance on the pursuit of sentencing enhancements?

If a gun was used during the commission of a crime, our office regularly files gun enhancements, which can add anywhere from 3 years to 25 years to life to a defendant’s sentence. Contrary to disinformation that is spread about the DA’s office, gun enhancements are regularly filed in LA. Since the beginning of 2022 alone, our office has filed more than 10,000 gun enhancements.

What is your opinion of the rate at which police officers have been charged in connection with on-duty shootings and in-custody deaths over the last four years in Los Angeles County?

My office has filed more on-duty, officer involved shooting (OIS) cases than under the prior two administrations, combined. We have also gone back and evaluated past convictions when we have learned that the case relied on an officer who abused public trust. We have reversed dozens of convictions of people whose cases relied on the help of officers who have since been charged with crimes, or evidenced clear racial bias or dishonesty. Only by correcting past wrongs can we create meaningful trust in the community.

I have filed five officer-involved shooting cases, as well as 10 additional excessive force cases against law enforcement officers. In the 20 years before I was elected, only one officer-involved shooting case was ever filed. In total, I have filed 129 cases against 144 law enforcement
officers

What would you say was the most pivotal experience of your career?

I’ve had many pivotal experiences in my career, as a police officer, LAPD Assistant Chief of Police, Chief of Police in Mesa, Az and San Francisco and SFDA. However, being honored by
the people of Los Angeles, my hometown, by electing me to be their County District Attorney has been an exceptional honor. The Los Angeles DA’s Office is one of the most consequential prosecutor’s offices in the nation. It is also the largest with approximately 2000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $600 Mil.

Yet, for me what makes this such a pivotal experience, is not the size of the office, but the opportunity to do good for so many by implementing a 21 st Century balanced reforms approach to our work. This balanced reform approach ensures that those harming our community are held accountable, while creating space to protect the rights of every community we serve, regardless of race, economic or social status.

Can you think of a case from your past that you would handle differently today? What was it and
why?

When I ran in 2020 I made it clear what I wanted to do in office, but I reminded people there would be an evolution to things and that change would come based on what is working and what isn’t. For example, juvenile policy evolved once there was a better way to approach things even though it deviated from the beginning plan. A lot of reform policy is subject to evolution. As long as there is a more equitable solution, we will always opt for change.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

ACCOUNTABILITY & EFFECTIVE CHARGING PRACTICES

• The District Attorney’s Office implemented charging policies that improve public safety while reducing the impact of the criminal justice system on people accused of crimes where data has shown that prosecution has no meaningful public safety benefit.

• Filing rates for violent crimes have remained consistent.
• Under D.A. Gascón’s leadership, we have shifted resources away from misdemeanors where prosecution serves no public safety benefit. We have, therefore, dramatically decreased our filing rate for cases associated with addiction, while focusing on those misdemeanors where violence, and especially domestic violence, occurs.

• In 2023, D.A. Gascón launched the office’s first-ever Labor Justice Unit (LJU). The LJU dedicates a team of seasoned prosecutors and investigators to focus specifically on the enforcement of labor laws, and the LJU has already seen success in filing wage theft, unfair labor practices, exploitation of workers, and failure to pay overtime cases.

• Environmental justice recognizes that the fair and equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens across all communities, regardless of their socio-economic status, race, or ethnicity, is critical to public safety. In June 2023, D.A. Gascón announce the filing of 22 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts against Atlas Iron and Metal Corporation and its owners for environmental crimes that affected Jordan High School in Watts.

LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

• In 2023, LADA charged 48 cases against 56 law enforcement personnel for crimes ranging from DUI to voluntary manslaughter. To date, the Gascón administration has charged140 cases against 153 law enforcement personnel.
• Under D.A. Gascón’s leadership, the Office has also filed more criminal cases arising out of on-duty officer involved shootings than it had over the course of the prior combined 20 years. D.A Gascón has filed ten criminal cases involving the on-duty use of unreasonable force on 17 officers, and six cases arising from on-duty officer-involved shootings against eight officers, for a total of sixteen cases involving 25 officers from 2021 through 2023. By comparison, the Lacey administration filed one officer involved shooting case from 2012 to 2020 and the Cooley administration filed none from 2000 to 2012.

ADVANCING VICTIM SERVICES

• Inspired by an LA Times Op-Ed co-authored by District Attorney Gascón in early 2023, Assemblymember Miguel Santiago joined forces with the DA and community advocates to author a bill that would encourage undocumented crime survivors and witnesses to come forward by protecting them from deportation. AB 1261, the “Immigrant Rights Act,” was signed into law by Governor Newsom in October 2023.

JUSTICE REFORM

• Under D.A. Gascón, the Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), which reviews claims of factualinnocence and wrongful convictions, was tripled in size. To date, six people have beenexonerated.
• While District Attorney Gascón ended the general practice of charging children as adultson the first day of his administration, he also recognizes that each case involves its own unique set of circumstances and facts. As a result of this policy shift, only ten juvenile cases warrantedtransfer to adult court.

• Since 2021, at least 747 youth have been kept out of the adult court system, and instead addressed their cases in juvenile court, as a result of D.A. Gascón’s youth justice policy.
• D.A. Gascón established the office’s Resentencing Unit (RU) during his first year inoffice. In the last three years, approximately 244 individuals have been resentenced. Out of the 187 people whose resentencing has so far resulted in their release, none have been convicted of a new offense, resulting in a 0% recidivism rate.
• District Attorney Gascón ended the practice of seeking the death penalty upon taking office in 2020, drawing to a close decades of past practice that saw Los Angeles send more people to death row than any other county in the United States. LADA has also resentenced 29 people on California’s death row to life without the possibility of parole, in the interest of justice. The vast majority suffer fromintellectual or cognitive disabilities, or brain damage. 72% are Black, 17% are Latino, two are white, and one is Asian.

COMMUNITY ACCESS

• In 2023, District Attorney Gascón convened two additional Community Advisory Boards to represent the Latine and Interfaith communities. The two boards join the Crime Victims, African American, LGBTQ+ and APPI Advisory Boards, each group representing members of our community who are the most impacted and/or marginalized by the Los Angeles County justice system. These six boards serve