By Jeremy Loudenback, The Imprint, August 18, 2021
Progressive prosecutors from San Francisco to Philadelphia spoke out on a livestream Wednesday, blasting the enduring legacy of the term “superpredator” and highlighting how its racist premise has fed a recent backlash against juvenile justice reforms.
Organized by the nonprofits Fair and Just Prosecution and the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth, the Facebook Live discussion included district and state attorneys in Cook County, Illinois; Philadelphia,; Prince George’s County, Maryland, and San Francisco. All have been elected as top law enforcement officials on platforms pledging to dismantle policies that have led to mass incarceration in their communities. The prosecutors’ reforms aim to upend lingering effects of the 1990s, when fears about youth crime promoted a racist and punitive response to young people of color across the country.
Kim Foxx of Cook County; Larry Krasner, of Philadelphia; Aisha Braveboy of Prince George’s County and Chesa Boudin of San Francisco have each paid a price for their efforts to scale back excessively long sentences, life without parole for juveniles and gang enhancements. Their reforms have often enraged local citizens and their own colleagues, with pushback coming from all sides — judges, police unions and even attorneys in their offices.
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