Brooke Jenkins’ Voters Got The Dead People They Wanted
Jenkins won’t charge the security guard who shot Banko Brown to death. That’s precisely why San Franciscans elected her in the first place.
Jerry Iannelli May 24, 2023
Who Will San Francisco Blame for Crime and Disorder Now?
If Brooke Jenkins fails to deliver results with “tough-on-crime” policies, will San Franciscans blame her, just as they did her predecessor, Chesa Boudin?
Nick Wing Aug 10, 2022
Brooke Jenkins Can’t Have It Both Ways
The new San Francisco DA is mixing “tough-on-crime” rhetoric with phony progressivism. Neither will solve the city’s problems.
Rachel Marshall Aug 05, 2022
The Chesa Boudin Recall Was a Fight to Protect the Status Quo
For the wealthy backers of the Boudin recall, “progressive” prosecutors are the perfect scapegoat for what they see as threats to a system that treats them just fine.
Jerry Iannelli Jun 08, 2022
How Los Angeles Created the Playbook for a Nationwide War on the Unhoused
As politicians look to build public support for homeless encampment sweeps, they’re using tactics popularized in LA—the site of one of the nation’s most intense battles over the unhoused.
Jonny Coleman May 26, 2022
The Dishonest Blame Game of Retail Store Closures and Crime
Reporters who parrot corporate claims of out-of-control theft play into a narrative that benefits big business and perpetuates carceral policies.
Kyle C. Barry Jun 22, 2021
The Movement That Is Upending Landlords’ Power Over Tenants
There has been a ‘parabolic increase’ in cities and states giving tenants a right to counsel to help fight evictions.
Abigail Savitch-Lew Jun 01, 2021
The Successes and Shortcomings of Larry Krasner’s Trailblazing First Term
Philadelphia’s top prosecutor has made good on promises to reduce incarceration in the city. His re-election bid will be a litmus test for the progressive prosecutor movement he helped start.
Joshua Vaughn Mar 22, 2021
How Chesa Boudin Is Pursuing His Promise to Reduce Incarceration
After more than a year in office—and despite pushback—the San Francisco DA’s policies have kept people out of jails and prisons.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 18, 2021
How Tenants’ Right to Counsel Can End Inequality in the Eviction System—and Save Lives
Ensuring renters have representation in housing court would help close a “justice gap” and be a life-saving intervention for those at risk of losing their homes.
Emily Benfer Mar 10, 2021
Most Tenants Facing Eviction Don’t Have a Right to an Attorney. Lawmakers Want to Change That
Numerous city councils and state legislatures are debating giving renters a right to counsel, which can make the difference between stability and catastrophe.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Feb 18, 2021
San Francisco Voters Abolish Mandatory Staffing Levels for Police
Current law mandated that the city have at least 1,971 full-time police officers.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 04, 2020
Teens Younger Than 18 Could Soon Have The Right To Vote In San Francisco
A measure on the ballot next month would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, a change that advocates say would crucially expand the voting pool.
Lauren Gill Oct 23, 2020
Prosecutors Are Using Gang Laws To Criminalize Protest
Prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Utah are using decades-old gang laws to target participants in the largest uprising against police brutality in U.S. history.
Ali Winston Sep 01, 2020
San Francisco Voters Will Decide On Abolishing Mandatory Staffing Levels For Police
Under current law, established during the “tough on crime” era, San Francisco mandated at least 1,971 full-time police officers. Voters will now have the opportunity to reconsider that mandate.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jul 21, 2020
Cities Fighting Coronavirus Must Provide Housing For The Homeless
Taking emergency measures to protect homeless people from the pandemic is simply common sense.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem Apr 14, 2020
What Sheriffs Can Do To Slow the Coronavirus Outbreak
Sheriffs wield enormous power, and they can direct it in ways that will help contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect incarcerated people.
Jessica Pishko Mar 18, 2020
Prosecutors Across U.S. Call for Action to Mitigate Spread of Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons
In a joint statement, they emphasized the need to reduce the number of people currently incarcerated in order to contain the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Jessica Pishko Mar 17, 2020
To Stop the Spread of Coronavirus, California Officials and Attorneys Call for Eviction Bans
Experts say evictions cause a ‘downward spiral’ of health problems for renters, and that housing security is necessary to slow the spread of the pandemic.
Darwin BondGraham Mar 13, 2020
San Francisco Officials Push to Reduce Jail Population to Prevent Coronavirus Outbreak
The public defender and district attorney both directed their staffs to keep individuals who are more vulnerable to the virus out of jail.
Darwin BondGraham Mar 11, 2020
Jamal Trulove: The Enduring Trauma of Stop-and-Frisk
As a Black child in San Francisco, I learned early that mine and others’ bodies meant nothing to those supposedly tasked with our protection.
Jamal Trulove Feb 19, 2020
Family Separation And ‘A Longer View Of Public Safety’: A Conversation With San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin
“We will prioritize family integrity and family unity at every stage of the process to the extent we can do so.”
Vaidya Gullapalli Jan 24, 2020
Chesa Boudin Sworn In as San Francisco’s New District Attorney
The former deputy public defender promised that his office would immediately end cash bail and stop seeking three-strikes sentencing enhancements.
Jay Willis Jan 08, 2020
Los Angeles County Democratic Party Endorses George Gascón for District Attorney
The former San Francisco DA got the nod over incumbent Jackie Lacey, whose tenure advocates and activists have long criticized as lackluster.
Jessica Pishko Dec 10, 2019
Kamala Harris’s Criminal Justice Record Killed Her Presidential Run
Harris’s record as a prosecutor was representative of a politics of the past. The nation has moved on.
Lara Bazelon Dec 04, 2019
Public Defender Chesa Boudin Wins San Francisco D.A. Race In Major Victory For Progressive Prosecutor Movement
Son of incarcerated parents, backed by Black Lives Matter co-founders, Boudin will be the next DA of San Francisco.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 09, 2019
Deadlocked San Francisco District Attorney Race Shows Strength of Progressive Prosecutor Movement
Chesa Boudin is just 240 votes behind Suzy Loftus, even after local law enforcement spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat him.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 06, 2019
It’s Time to Fight the Democratic Mayors Who Are Champions of the Carceral State
The mayors of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco wrap themselves in the language of progressivism, but when it comes to the criminal legal system they’re Trumpian.
Kelly Hayes Nov 04, 2019
Who Gets To Proclaim The Progressive Prosecutor Mantle?
Interim San Francisco D.A. Suzy Loftus claims to be a “progressive,” but her long record as a prosecutor reveals an all-too-familiar path chosen by establishment-types who have little interest in disrupting the status quo.
Patrisse Cullors Nov 01, 2019
San Francisco Police Brutality Claim Puts Pressure on Next D.A. to Hold Cops Accountable
Ahead of the city’s district attorney election on Tuesday, the alleged baton beating last month of Dacari Spiers has renewed debate over police accountability.
Darwin BondGraham Nov 01, 2019
Interim San Francisco D.A. Suzy Loftus is Running for Office as a Reformer. But Critics Say She Didn’t Do Enough to Reform the SFPD.
Loftus led the San Francisco Police Commission through a bloody and turbulent era.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 04, 2019
Chicago’s Top Prosecutor: Clearing Marijuana Records Will Be ‘Life-Changing’
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is partnering with a technology nonprofit to expunge tens of thousands of minor marijuana convictions. Other jurisdictions could follow.
Kira Lerner Aug 30, 2019
San Francisco Deserves Restorative Justice
Our response to crime should focus on healing and accountability, not punishment and retribution.
Chesa Boudin Aug 30, 2019
Rape Survivor Petitions Supreme Court Over How Police Handled Her Case
Heather Marlowe, now an activist, says neglected kits are a reflection of who and what police prioritize.
Raven Rakia Aug 15, 2019
San Francisco Is Paying For Jamal Trulove’s Wrongful Conviction. Will Kamala Harris?
Police and prosecutors framed a father of four in a 2007 murder case with local and national political implications.
Kyle C. Barry Jul 02, 2019
Spotlight: Reactions to Free Jail Calls Demonstrate ‘Status Quo Bias’
Beginning next week, people locked up in San Francisco will be able to call their loved ones for free. Last year, people in the city’s jails spent $1.7 million on phone calls and commissary, of which half a million went to GTL, a major corrections telecommunication company. For Mayor London Breed, who introduced the provision in the San Francisco […]
Sarah Lustbader Jun 25, 2019
Spotlight: ‘A New Wave of Prosecutorial Transparency’
Prosecutors are supremely powerful and have played an outsize role in mass incarceration. What can be done?
Sarah Lustbader Jun 07, 2019
One Simple Way To Hold Bad Prosecutors Accountable
State bar organizations have the power to discipline prosecutors, but they studiously ignore bad behavior.
Jeff Adachi, Peter Calloway Mar 21, 2019
San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Chesa Boudin Announces Run for District Attorney
In a wide-ranging interview, Boudin, a progressive reform candidate, told The Appeal he wants to redefine ‘public safety’ to encompass the rights of both victims and defendants.
Melissa Gira Grant Jan 15, 2019
San Francisco Officials Wanted to Close A Dilapidated Jail by 2019. So Why Is It Still Open?
Everyone agrees the jail at 850 Bryant should close, but it’s not yet clear what would happen to those locked inside.
Melissa Gira Grant Dec 14, 2018