When Chesa Boudin was 14 months old, his parents were arrested. Both members of radical leftist groups including the Black Liberation Army, Students for a Democratic Society, and the Weather Underground, they were sentenced to decades in prison for their role in an armed robbery which left three dead. For his entire life, he has been intimately acquainted with the American criminal justice system.

Now, at 38 years old, the San Francisco Deputy Public Defender is running to change the system from the inside, in what he calls “the first time in over 100 years where there’s no incumbent in the race for San Francisco [District Attorney].” The open election provides the 13th-most populous city in the United States the opportunity to continue the trend of electing progressive district attorneys dedicated to radically reforming the criminal justice system.

Even though it’s not a midterm or presidential election, the stakes are high. With the success of the Black Lives Matter movement, we have seen an increased focus on and awareness of criminal justice policy in the political sphere. In 2017, progressive reform advocates scored a huge victory by electing civil rights attorney Larry Krasner as Philadelphia District Attorney. (Prior to his election, Krasner had sued the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times.) Right off the bat, D.A. Krasner fired 31 prosecutors from his office. Since then, he has consistently made national headlines for eliminating cash bail for 25 non-violent offenses, not prosecuting marijuana possession, mandating that he personally approve any prison deals of over 15 years, and instructing prosecutors to seek diversion programs instead of prison sentences.

The successes continued in 2018 with the passage of progressive criminal justice ballot measures as well as the electoral victories of progressive judicial and prosecutorial candidates like Rachael Rollins, who was elected District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Progressive criminal justice advocates hope to keep the momentum going in 2019 with the San Francisco District Attorney’s race. The criminal justice system in California has already been in the national spotlight with Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial record under scrutiny. The pressure is on for candidates to prove that they have an alternative vision to the unjust punitive system we currently have in place. Chesa Boudin’s background, from advocating against U.S. imperialism in Latin America to serving as a public defender, make him an ideal candidate for the movement to support in what is bound to be a race where everyone will surely be trying to prove themselves to be the most progressive.

Chesa Boudin joined us on the podcast to discuss his candidacy for San Francisco District Attorney. Listen on iTunes or in your browser below:

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