In an AP interview, Los Angeles’ next district attorney says he will focus on low-level, non-violent crimes

LOS ANGELES – The future police officer for Los Angeles County, Nathan Hochman said in an interview with The Associated Press that his first task upon taking office is to eliminate the “pro-crime blanket policy” of one of California’s most prominent progressive prosecutors, George Gascón.

That means bringing back gang-related sentencing improvements, allowing prosecutors to more freely pursue juvenile charges, and allowing prosecutors to once again attend hearings with victims’ families where they can help argue against the release of convicts, Hochman said.

The former Republican-turned-independent also plans to return to prosecuting low-level nonviolent crimes that he said the current district attorney has failed to do, such as criminal threats, trespassing, disturbing the peace and loitering , often involving people who are homeless.

Anyone who breaks the law will face “proportionate” consequences — no more “get out of jail free” cards, Hochman said in the interview Wednesday.

At the same time, he wants to look at solutions that don’t necessarily require incarcerating criminals, such as court-ordered drug treatment, community service and restitution.

“There is a culture of lawlessness” that is “perpetrated” by Gascón’s office, Hochman said.

“We’re going to reverse that,” he said. “You’re basically saying, ‘These are the lines in our society, the lines are the laws, I’m going to enforce them consistently, fairly and impartially, and here are the real consequences on the other side. So if you want, test me. If you think I’m bluffing, I’m not bluffing. ”

Hochman says he doesn’t want to simply refill the prisons.

“This is my message to people who believe in criminal justice reform: I believe in it too,” Hochman said. “The difference between me and my predecessor is that it won’t be a lot of talk.”

Hochman’s victory on Nov. 5 to become top prosecutor in the country’s most populous province of 10 million reflected growing dissatisfaction in California with progressive prosecutors who have pushed criminal justice reforms.

Gascón, a former San Francisco police chief, was elected in 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota as part of a wave of progressive prosecutors elected nationwide.

He made several controversial changes to the district attorney’s office that critics viewed as soft on crime, such as ending cash bail and not allowing prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults or seek sentence enhancements. He also recently opened the business of Lyle and Erik Menendezsaying he would look for condemnation for the brothers who received life sentences for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Hochman, who could influence the Menendez case, said he could not comment on the sentencing recommendation. new sentence until he has had time to review confidential documents relating to the case. the brothers.

Defending his work, Gascón said in his concession statement: “I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished over the past four years and grateful to the communities that have been and always will be at the heart of criminal justice reform.”

In 2014, Gascón, then a district attorney in San Francisco, co-authored a ballot measure passed by California voters that reclassified certain low-level drug and property crimes as felonies instead of misdemeanors. The measure was approved as California struggled for years with a 2009 federal court order to reduce the population in the state’s overcrowded prisons.

But the increased property crime in LA County, highlighted by viral videos of hitting and grabbing Shoplifting, a worsening drug epidemic and rising homelessness have fueled the sense of lawlessness and frustration that brought voters to the polls last week.

Prosecutors across the state are now armed with the passage this month Proposal 36a ballot measure that would allow them to charge shoplifting and drug possession as misdemeanors after a third offense.

Hochman declined to say whether his office plans to review the current crimes to elevate them to felonies, but said the ultimate goal is deterrence. His goal is to return to a year like 2014, which he said was considered the safest year in the region in the past 50 years.

“I don’t predict that thousands of people will go to jail now,” he said. “The goal ultimately is to deter them from committing these crimes. Then I know I’m actually doing something that is effective in the criminal justice system, and not by filling prisons to the breaking point. That is a failure of the system.”

With just over two weeks before he was sworn in and took over a department of more than 700 prosecutors, Hochman spent a morning this week in Hermosa Beach, a city south of Los Angeles, observing “homeless court.”

The program, which began in the coastal city of Redondo Beach, gives people experiencing homelessness the opportunity to avoid prosecution for non-violent crimes or municipal code violations in exchange for accepting court-mandated services that can ultimately lead to placement in a home.

“I thought it was a really innovative way to try to deal with low-level homeless crime… and get the homeless people the help they need to make sure they never actually have to appear in court again ,” Hochman said.