When Kamala Harris ran for president in 2020, her critics on the left argued that her record as a prosecutor did not match the leadership of the Democratic Party, especially after movements like Black Lives Matter drew national attention to racism in law enforcement. He was too Tough on crime During his days as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, some argued, his policies only helped. Fuel mass confinement.
Harris, on the other hand, spoke of his own record in very different terms. During his time as a prosecutor, Harris argued, he was a reformer—he was not tough on crime but “Criminally smart” In another book he wrote ahead of his 2020 presidential campaign, he Bill yourself As a “progressive prosecutor”, that’s a lot of a label disagree with.
Harris and his supporters since becoming the Democratic nominee for president His prosecutor leans into the past, eagerly framing this election as a prosecutor versus a criminal. “I’ve taken on all kinds of criminals—predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, fraudsters who broke the rules for their own gain,” Harris said. said in a recent speech. “So hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s style.”
But despite Harris pointing to his record as a tough prosecutor on serious crimes, Republicans are trying to portray him as too soft on crime, blaming him and his fellow Democrats for a crime wave that, by all accounts, appears to have subsided. .
The truth is, however, like his policy positions and priorities, his record as a prosecutor does not fit into a neatly defined box.
While he may not be a progressive prosecutor by today’s standards — a prosecutor who focuses on reducing incarceration rates rather than putting more people in prison — he was driven by a reformist mindset when he became district attorney in 2004. His growing approach to change was highlighted by some of the programs he would later champion that offered alternatives to incarceration for first-time offenders, including job training and school enrollment.
In a speech to launch his 2020 presidential campaign, Harris showed he wasn’t indifferent to the damage prosecutors can do to people’s lives. “Many black and brown Americans have been locked up. From mass incarceration to cash bail to policing, our criminal justice system needs a drastic overhaul. she said. When it came to his own record, he said, “At a time when prevention and redemption were not in the vocabulary or mindset of most district attorneys, we created an initiative to train arrested youth in skills and jobs instead of jail. of medicine.”
There are limits to how credibly Harris can claim to have been a reformer—he had a record, too Giving people long sentences than needed
So what should people make of Harris’ true legacy in criminal justice? The short answer is: it’s complicated.
Harris’s priorities as a prosecutor
Harris’ record as a prosecutor is difficult to define in clear ideological terms, in part because of its many contradictions — supporting diversion programs for youth on the one hand, push back On the other hand against the claim of wrongful conviction. In many ways, his time as a prosecutor looked like a balancing act: He pushed for a fairer criminal justice system at a time when prosecutors were less concerned about unfair outcomes, but he made sure never to push too hard.
Before she became a district attorney, she prosecuted child sexual abuse and domestic violence cases, a priority He brought it with him to the DA’s office. But some sexual assault victims have criticized Harris, saying He didn’t go far enough To fight against sexual harassment.
When it comes to other issues, Harris walks the same line. An example was his stance on the death penalty. Harris, an outspoken critic of the death penalty, pledged not to pursue it when he was campaigning for district attorney and followed through. Refusing to seek the death penalty Against a man who killed a police officer. It was a tall order given the pressure he was facing at the time from fellow politicians and the police union. But despite that position, he defended the state’s policy on the death penalty, Appeal against the judgment of the Federal Court which found California’s death penalty unconstitutional.
On police reform, Harris was similar Reform-minded but fell short What lawyers would like to see. As Attorney General of California, he introduced it Open Justice Initiative, creating a public database of state statistics on crime and police use of force, and implementing racial bias training. But he also didn’t shy away from heavy-handed law enforcement — as it happened when it happened Marijuana Lawor his More controversial is the anti-truancy policywhich threatened arrest and prosecution of parents whose children dropped out of school.
Why Ken Harris’ prosecutorial past will matter in 2024
Harris likes to contrast his career with Trump, who is a prosecutor at heart.
But Harris will walk the tightrope whenever he leans on his prosecutor’s bonafides, risking alienating progressive voters who take issue with the tough-on-crime elements of his record. “I don’t know what Harris can possibly do to win back the trust of those who, like any other prosecutor, are intimately familiar with the way he put people in prison and made a career out of being tough on crime.” said Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative.
Ultimately, the tension that Harris faces shows why Republican attacks on him as too soft on crime are not based in fact: He has plenty of evidence to suggest that he has sometimes been a tough-on-crime prosecutor. He has plenty of evidence to show that he was a reformer at another time. And in the next few months, Harris will have to decide what part of his legacy as a prosecutor he wants to carry on.
But if his record is any indication, he’ll likely try to avoid such black-and-white labels altogether.
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