San Francisco criminal justice system rocked by 'earthquake' under new DA, activist says

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San Francisco criminal justice system rocked by 'earthquake' under new DA, activist says

The City by the Bay will change drastically as a result of the new district attorney, a San Francisco activist told Fox News.

"There's going to be a fundamental change," said Richie Greenberg, founder of the campaign movement to recall Chesa Boudin. "We are undergoing an earthquake here in the criminal justice system."

After San Francisco voters recalled Boudin in June, Brooke Jenkins was appointed district attorney by Mayor London Breed. She previously served as an assistant DA from 2014 to 2021. 

Jenkins resigned as assistant DA under Boudin in October 2021, citing "mounting dissatisfaction with the direction of the office," according to a press release from the mayor’s office. 

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Brooke Jenkins is expected to be named San Francisco's newest district attorney after her former boss, Chesa Boudin, was ousted in a recall election in June. (Fox San Francisco)

"There is going to be a period of time now under the new DA, Brooke Jenkins, to have to rebuild confidence in the prosecutor's office with the voters, with San Franciscans, with business leaders here, with business owners, and also the tourists," Greenberg told Fox News. 

Following years of leadership under progressive district attorneys such as Kamala Harris, George Gascon and, most recently, Boudin, Greenberg said he is excited to see how Jenkin's policies will affect the city. 

"We all look forward to now cleaning this up," Greenberg said of San Francisco's drug and homelessness issues. "Brooke Jenkins is talking about dealing with the drug dealers that lead to this kind of pockets of drug dens that are scattered around San Francisco."

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Two individuals rummage through items on the street in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. (Fox News Digital/Jon Michael Raasch)

Greenberg continued: "We have all been greatly affected by having these criminals running rampant on the streets here with almost impunity."

Jenkins, who considers herself a progressive prosecutor, said during the recall campaign that Boudin was too rigid. He eliminated cash bail for defendants and declared that minors would not be tried as adults, no matter how serious the crime. Jenkins said she would like those tools available for prosecutors to use at their discretion, according to The Associated Press. 

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Chesa Boudin enters his election night party. 

"We all have hope now that Brooke Jenkins is going to come through with her promise to deal with the drug dealers and to help eradicate this kind of scenes that are repeated over and over again throughout parts of the city that have gone unabated, that have been caused by Gascon and former DA Chesa Boudin," Greenberg told Fox News. 

Jenkins, a week into her new role, fired at least 15 employees of the prosecutor's office.

The new San Francisco district attorney issued a statement last week saying she made "difficult, but important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms."

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"By having an actual prosecutor, a competent, strong prosecutor and her team … is going to make a very fundamental change," Greenberg said. 

"We all have our fingers crossed," he continued. 

Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.