Origins of the Movement The progressive prosecutor movement-more accurately called the rogue prosecutor movement-is the predictable outgrowth of efforts by earlier Marxist radicals to alter or destroy the American way of life.
Tymas, who had worked as a public defender and prosecutor, was connected to the Vera Institute of Justice, where she focused on "The role of prosecutors in perpetuating racial disparity." There she met the ACLU's Chloe Cockburn, who was working to end "Mass incarceration," and they discussed the role of prosecutors, the low visibility of elections for county district attorneys, and the fact that most people don't even know who their local D.A. is.
As opponents of the death penalty, Tymas and Cockburn hatched a plan to elect anti-death penalty prosecutors and persuaded Soros to give over $1 million to groups that were successful in electing such district attorneys in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Rachel Barkow, a law professor and former member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission who supports the rogue prosecutor movement, summed up its goal as follows: "To reverse-engineer and dismantle the criminal justice infrastructure."
Over the past decade, Soros has spent more than $40 million on campaigns to elect rogue prosecutors.
The Playbook One of the hallmarks of the rogue prosecutor movement has been its usurpation of the constitutional role of state legislatures.
Once elected, rogue prosecutors refuse to prosecute entire categories of crimes that are on the books in their states, justifying their refusal by claiming "Prosecutorial discretion." But in fact, their refusal to prosecute crimes violates the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government and distorts the entire legal system.
The principle behind it requires the enforcement of laws except in cases when prosecutors believe in good faith that an applicable law is unconstitutional.
It does not give prosecutors the power to redefine crime and punishment.
Today, there more than 70 rogue prosecutors across the country.
George Gascon, the district attorney of Los Angeles County, issued a written directive to his 1,000 prosecutors detailing the 13 misdemeanors that "Shall be declined or dismissed before arraignment and without conditions" unless certain exceptions or other "Factors" exist.
Two weeks into the job, Kim Foxx of Chicago, the first big city Soros-funded rogue prosecutor, unilaterally raised the bar for prosecuting felony shoplifting from $300 per incident to $1,000 per incident, essentially declaring open season on retail stores.
He celebrated on election night by calling himself a "Public defender with power." The first day in office he fired 31 experienced violent crimes prosecutors, referring to them as "Ticks." This is common practice among the rogue prosecutors, who replace career prosecutors with public defenders or law students who sympathize with defendants and view the police suspiciously.
In addition to not prosecuting misdemeanors, rogue prosecutors often reduce felonies to misdemeanors and limit the number of charges a prosecutor can bring in a case to one, even though a suspect may have committed multiple offenses.
One of Gascon's most controversial directives in Los Angeles prohibits prosecutors from adding sentencing enhancements or allegations that would support such enhancements to an indictment-even though in some circumstances, California law requires prosecutors to do so.
In many cities, young gang recruits commit violent felonies to prove their "Street cred." Yet most rogue prosecutors refuse to prosecute violent teenagers as adults, instead sending them to juvenile court, where the worst punishment they can get is juvenile detention until they turn 21.
One of the most pernicious policies to come out of the rogue prosecutor movement is the refusal to ask for cash bail, which represents a guarantee by a defendant that the defendant will show up for trial.
District attorneys including Foxx, Gascon, and Boudin have directed their prosecutors not to ask for cash bail in many cases.
Predictable Results Crime rates have exploded in the cities that have elected rogue prosecutors.
Although the rogue prosecutor movement is incredibly well funded, it is showing signs of electoral vulnerability.
Voters in Baltimore and San Francisco have ousted rogue prosecutors Marilyn Mosby and Chesa Boudin, respectively.
Ethically challenged rogue prosecutors Kim Gardner of St. Louis and Rachael Rollins of Boston have had to resign from their posts.
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/rogue-prosecutors-and-the-rise-of-crime/
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