In his first two days in office, new Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has rolled back on progressive policies backed by former district attorney George Gascón.
“I’ll be prioritizing public safety while ensuring real and effective criminal justice reform,” Hochman said in a recent interview with Annenberg Media. “I believe you can do both at the same time.”
Hochman’s first changes expanded the power of L.A. County prosecutors to enforce harsher sentences for crimes.
This included dismantling Gascón’s Proposition 47, which stated that certain non-violent offenses, including stealing merchandise under the value of $950, would be reclassified as misdemeanors rather than felonies. Hochman backed Proposition 36, which passed into law on November 5. This legislation aimed to reinforce strict penalties for repeat offenders, specifically in regard to theft and drug-related crimes.
Gascón’s restrictions on applying gang-related sentence enhancements were also overturned, and Hochman also made it possible for prosecutors to consider additional penalties for defendants who used firearms in the commission of their crimes.
Hochman also rolled back on Gascón’s policy that prevented prosecutors from joining victims at parole hearings, which had received significant backlash from victims’ rights groups, according to the L.A. Times.
According to a press conference held by Hochman on December 3, prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office will once again have the discretion to file charges based on the unique circumstances of each case, the crime committed, the defendant’s background, the impact on the victim and the law.
Hochman further declared he would implement task forces to focus on homelessness, fentanyl poisoning, human trafficking, hate crimes, organized retail crime and residential burglaries.
During his campaign, Hochman vowed to bring safety back to the streets of LA and criticized the former administration’s leniency on crime. According to reporting by Sonja Sharp for the LA Times, billionaire real estate developer and former chair of the USC Board of Trustees, Rick Caruso, championed these efforts when he endorsed Hochman in his race for District Attorney at a press conference held at the Casa Vega restaurant in Sherman Oaks on June 25.
“There’s not a more important race in the state of California than this race,” Caruso said. “It really will change the trajectory of the region, which I think then changes the trajectory of the state.”
As an L.A. native and father of four, Caruso expressed his concerns about growing safety issues in and around the area.
“It’s bad enough to feel unsafe,” Caruso said. “It’s worse to actually be unsafe, and people are unsafe throughout Los Angeles County.”
Many Angelenos welcomed Hochman’s tough-on-crime approach, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. In November, he defeated Gascón by more than 650,000 votes, according to data provided by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder.
However, some justice reform advocates are worried that Hochman’s administration will reverse policies set in place to prevent mass incarceration.
“It’s concerning,” said Maria Gonzalez, Community Legal Support Coordinator at the Youth Justice Coalition. “We’ve been working really hard to help our communities have the services that they need, to give these young people their second chance. Now it’s like, what’s going to happen now?”
YJC is an L.A. County non-profit focused on ending mass incarceration, deportation and police terror, according to their website.
Gonzalez also said she hopes Hochman will utilize the diversion programs L.A. County nonprofits like YJC have been working on to keep youth out of the justice system. Along with judges and public defenders, Gonzalez said she hopes to build a relationship with the new district attorney’s office to better support youth in L.A. County.
Emilio Zapién, director of media and communications at YJC, said he is concerned about the criminal enhancements Hochman reintroduced and how they can disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities.
“You don’t see these enhancements being applied to, for example, white supremacist street gangs in Venice or Redondo Beach,” Zapein said. “It’s very much criminalizing poverty, criminalizing Black and Brown people that live in marginalized and low-income neighborhoods.”
During his inaugural speech, Hochman said he would prioritize advisory committees to coordinate with the District Attorney’s Office regarding community-specific legislation. However, individuals like Zapien worry he may be more focused on building relationships with law enforcement.
“I’m concerned about the narrative and the clear partnerships that he’s creating more with law enforcement than with community-based alternative organizations,” Zapien said. “We’ve seen this play out for decades in Los Angeles County and across the state, and it hasn’t created safer communities.”
According to Zapien, it costs over $800,000 per year to incarcerate one young person in county facilities. He believes those tax dollars should instead go toward a greater effort to improve and expand resources and opportunities in education for those formerly or currently incarcerated.
Though previously registered as a Republican, Hochman ran as an Independent, severing ties to traditional party expectations. He claims his legislation balances stricter sentencing with policies that help prevent mass incarceration.
“I reject blanket extreme policies on both sides of the pendulum swing,” Hochman said during his press conference. “Decarceration policies that predetermine that certain crimes and certain criminals are not going to be prosecuted and mass incarceration policies that also are not anchored in the facts and the law.”