{"id":19738,"date":"2021-08-23T19:12:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T02:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=19738"},"modified":"2021-08-23T19:12:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T02:12:37","slug":"the-data-supports-chesa-boudins-record-why-doesnt-the-media-tell-us-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/08\/23\/the-data-supports-chesa-boudins-record-why-doesnt-the-media-tell-us-that\/","title":{"rendered":"The data supports Chesa Boudin\u2019s record: Why doesn\u2019t the media tell us that?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Boudin is charging cases at the same rate as other local DAs. He has increased prosecutions of sexual assault cases. But the “balanced” Chron misses the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By TIM REDMOND<\/a> AUGUST 22, 2021 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a second to look at the news media coverage of District Attorney Chesa Boudin\u2014particularly a recent long article in the Chron<\/a>, entitled \u201cChesa Boudin and San Francisco\u2019s bitter debate over crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then let\u2019s take a look at the actual data on crime in San Francisco, some of which was in Megan Cassidy\u2019s Chron story, some of which is easily available on the SFPD data website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me start by saying: Cassidy did a good job of collecting information. It\u2019s not her fault that the editors framed the story all wrong and wrote a bad headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the story fails a fundamental rule of journalism: In an effort to be balanced and tell \u201call sides of the story,\u201d it misses the facts that ought to be right at the top (most people won\u2019t read the whole thing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime is not rising, much less soaring or out of control, since Boudin took office. Every single sensational case that the Chron and the TV stations has used to portray Boudin as soft on crime was actually not Boudin\u2019s fault. And the recall supporters can\u2019t dispute any of this\u2014all they can say is that people \u201cfeel\u201d unsafe, which is a Trumpian way of saying that facts and truth don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus: State Sen. Scott Wiener issues a statement that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t support the recall.\u201d But does he oppose it? Will he work against it? The Chron apparently didn\u2019t ask. Mayor London Breed hasn\u2019t taken a position\u2014why not? She opposes the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> on the grounds that he hasn\u2019t done anything to merit his early removal from office; why is Boudin different?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While city voters have elected mostly progressive district attorneys for decades, Boudin, a former public defender, was elected in November 2019 as part of a wave of prosecutors in cities such as St. Louis and Philadelphia who more explicitly pledged to unwind tough-on-crime policies they said had filled prisons \u2014 disproportionately with people of color \u2014 but failed to make cities safer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Excuse me, but which \u201cprogressive district attorneys\u201d are we talking about? I have covered San Francisco politics since 1981 and I can tell you: Arlo Smith was by no means a progressive DA. Terence Hallinan was somewhat (but not always) a progressive DA. Kamala Harris was not at all a progressive DA. Neither, until he decided to move to LA, was George Gascon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the data that Cassidy compiled:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to figures obtained by The Chronicle through public records requests, Boudin\u2019s office filed charges in about 46% of the cases brought by city police and other agencies during his first year in office. Prosecutors under Alameda County\u2019s more moderate district attorney, Nancy O\u2019Malley, filed charges in 54% of cases in 2020.<\/p>

This year, in contrast, Boudin\u2019s prosecutors had filed charges in 56% of cases as of mid-June \u2014 a rate slightly higher than predecessor George Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s in his last three years in San Francisco \u2014 while O\u2019Malley\u2019s had filed charges in 45% of cases by late April, the most recent data available.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be serious: The margin of charging between Boudin and O\u2019Malley is negligible. During a global pandemic, when there were almost no courtrooms open for trials and everyone with any sense was trying hard to bring down jail populations, SF and Alameda County charged about the same percentage of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is O\u2019Malley not facing a recall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sacramento County prosecutors under District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, a vocal critic of Boudin, charged about 66% of cases in 2020 and 59% by the end of July this year, records show.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Those numbers are fine and accurately reported, but the story is missing the context. The first six months of this year, the right-wing Sacramento DA and the progressive SF prosecutor filed charges at almost exactly the same rate. (In numerical terms, 56 percent and 59 percent amount to an irrelevant margin of error).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Chron:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In San Francisco, charging decisions vary widely depending on the type of crime. In 2020, prosecutors filed charges in residential burglary, homicide and drug cases more than 70% of the time, while the figures for felony assault and domestic violence were 29% and 23%, respectively. Boudin\u2019s filing rate rose significantly from 2020 to 2021 in some crime categories \u2014 59% to 79% in auto burglaries, 61% to 82% in commercial burglaries and 50% to 75% in sexual assaults.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Wait: Chesa Boudin is charging 25 percent MORE sexual assault cases\u2014in a city where that\u2019s been a problem for years?<\/a> Why is that not part of the lead of the story, instead of a tale that\u2019s been told over and over about an assault Boudin is entirely wrongly blamed for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s take a look at data that didn\u2019t make it into the Chron: The overall \u201cclearance\u201d rate of SFPD. Clearance means an arrest has been made in a case and the suspect has been charged and turned over to the court for prosecution. So \u201cclearance\u201d means the DA has filed charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past year, clearance rates are actually up\u2014meaning that more arrests have been made and more cases charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But frankly, they are still abysmally low\u2014not because Boudin isn\u2019t filing charges (the data shows otherwise) but because the cops aren\u2019t doing their job of fairly and fully investigating cases and presenting enough evidence for the DA\u2019s Office to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is nothing new: My former Bay Guardian colleague A.C. Thompson did a series of stories back in the day on how SFPD was unable to close homicide cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boudin can\u2019t file charges if there\u2019s not enough evidence to warrant it. That\u2019s the law: Prosecutors are bound not to charge cases that can\u2019t be taken to a jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what the Chron reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An extensive review of the city\u2019s criminal data by The Chronicle and wide-ranging interviews with Boudin and his supporters and detractors found a multipronged crime debate playing out during a once-in-a-lifetime societal event and two sides bitterly divided, unable to agree on much of anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Actually, no. I will sum up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boudin isn\u2019t any more \u201csoft on crime\u201d than any of the other local district attorneys. He\u2019s done a significantly better job filing charges in sexual assault cases. The cops have been doing a terrible job closing cases. And none of the sensational news media reports that have fueled the recall furor are true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were a Chron editor, that would have been the first paragraph in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no: The paper has to \u201ctell both sides\u201d even with both sides aren\u2019t presenting the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another missing fact: If Boudin is recalled, Breed gets to appoint his replacement. She strongly campaigned for Suzy Loftus against Boudin, and appointed Loftus to the job just weeks before the election to give her the air of incumbency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not the news we are hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a> Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boudin is charging cases at the same rate as other local DAs. He has increased prosecutions of sexual assault cases. But the “balanced” Chron misses the point. By TIM REDMOND AUGUST 22, 2021 (48hills.org) Let\u2019s take a second to look at the news media coverage of District Attorney Chesa Boudin\u2014particularly a… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19741,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19738\/revisions\/19741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}